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ARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Angels come in all forms and, this holiday season, 15 families displaced by Hurricane Katrina have found their angels in Oprah Winfrey and filmmaker Tyler Perry ("Diary of a Mad Black Woman," "Madea's Family Reunion"). Perry, a native of New Orleans, donated $1 million to Oprah's Angel Network, which in turn funded Habitat for Humanity's "Operation Home Delivery" to replace homes lost in the New Orleans flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina. Fifteen families moved into their new, fully-furnished homes in Baton Rouge, just in time for Christmas. For the first time in its U.S. operations, Habitat for Humanity is using modular, or factory-built, homes in order to speed up delivery to displaced families. Not enough volunteers are available for the scope of rebuilding needed in the Gulf Region, and modular homes can be delivered in almost move- in condition, whereas site-built homes require months of labor to complete.
Saying they would provide a cheaper and faster way for residents to replace storm-damaged homes, the Kenner City Council Thursday unanimously voted to allow modular homes in single-family zoning districts. "The modular home industry has made some great strides," Planning Department Director Jay Hebert told the council. He said the modular homes, which are partially built in a factory, are "indistinguishable" from conventionally built homes. They take one-third of the time of conventional homes to build, he said. The homes would be allowed in the single-family residential zoning district, but only with council approval. An application to the Kenner Planning Department and the Planning and Zoning Commission would be required, with the final decision to come from the council.
NEW ORLEANS -- A Las Vegas home builder and developer is buying the century-old former Third Presbyterian Church building in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans, believed to be equipped with one of the oldest pipe organs in the city, for a local pastor to bring social and spiritual services to a hard-hit area of the city. Brent Lovett, who is purchasing property in eastern New Orleans to build 16-by-70-foot steel-framed, concrete-floored living units, will create the interdenominational Jubilee Church International at the Third Presbyterian site for the Rev. Gregory Thomas, after spending an estimated $1.5 million on acquisition and repairs, Thomas said. The church, on Esplanade Avenue, was built in 1909. Lovett, an architect, had come up with the idea for modular living units that can be stacked into 12-story towers.
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