On December 19, Rutherford County Habitat for Humanities (RCHFH) dedicated its 200th home. Since being founded in the county in 1989, the organization has been dedicated to building affordable homes here. This home is the 35th in Legacy Pointe, an 18-acre subdivision that was the brain-child of current RCHFH Executive Director, Terri Shultz. Legacy Pointe has come to represent the very essence of Habitat, a community of homes being built by the community.
Legacy Pointe began with two homes in 2020. On a cold fall afternoon in January of that year, a group of people of all ages, all walks of life, and many ethnicities got together in a parking lot in Smyrna to build the walls for Makeitha Davis’ home. She bought one of the first two homes RCHFH built there. Davis’ home was built by Nissan North America, the company that is also sponsoring the 200th home.
The 200th RCHFH home was built for a single mother of three named Chanelle. In August of 2024, more than 100 volunteers from throughout the county came together under the blazing sun at the Nissan Vehicle Assembly Plant in Smyrna to build the walls of her home. The actual site construction began in November.
As housing in Rutherford County has gotten more and more expensive, many have looked to RCHFH to fulfill their dreams of owning their own home. Even apartments have become beyond the means of many. While housing should cost no more than 30% of household income, that cost has gone up to 50% and beyond. For Chanelle, that amount was beyond 50%, leaving little for anything else beyond food.
What many people do not realize is that a Habitat home is not a hand out, it is a hand up. All home owners must complete 50 hours of financial literacy and homeowner education, as well as 300 hours of volunteer time spent working on the building of their house and others in Legacy Pointe.
“Once approved [for a home],” explained Shultz, “future homeowners start their Homeowner Education Program. It usually takes nine to twelve months to go through the program.”
Habitat’s Homeowner Education Classes are something just about everyone could use before buying their first home. By the time applicants are done with the program, they are prepared to tackle the financial, legal, and maintenance matters tied to home ownership.
Schultz explains that each future homeowner must complete 50 hours of training. The program is run by Regina Harvey of Dominion Financial Management, Inc., and Angie Ezell, RCHFH’s Homeowner Services Manager. In addition to financial and money management issues, the classes also include a very popular nutrition program given by the University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Office, a class on health and air quality aspects of a house, and they bring in experts to provide information on insurance, banking, wills, and legal issues. Finally, the RCHFH construction crew gives hands-on instruction on typical home repairs and maintenance issues. After moving into their new home, participants will attend 20 additional hours of education.
“It has been a good process for me,” Davis told VIP Murfreesboro after going through the program in 2020. “Budgeting on a limited income has been the biggest lesson. I never knew how hard it was to stay on a budget.”
Homeowners must pay a no interest mortgage through the RCHFH mortgage program, ensuring they will not pay more than 30 % of their monthly income on housing. This leaves more disposable income for other family needs. Positive financial changes have allowed RCHFH homeowners to also see changes for the better in other parts of their lives, including everything from more self-confidence to better health to having their children getting better grades in school.
RCHFH is a non-profit, non-denominational Christian housing ministry, seeking to bring people together to build homes, communities, and hope. This is done through building quality, energy-efficient, affordable houses while partnering alongside working families. Homes are built by RCHFH construction staff, future homeowners, and community volunteers. After a home is completed, it is sold to the family at no profit with an affordable monthly mortgage.
Nissan Smyrna is the first auto assembly plant in Tennessee. They currently build the Nissan LEAF, Murano, Pathfinder, Rogue and INFINITI QX60. To date, Nissan has invested $7.1 billion USD in the Smyrna plant. With more than 5,700 employees and an annual production capacity of 500,000 vehicles, Nissan’s Smyrna operations represents the largest U.S. manufacturing site within the company’s network and one of Nissan’s largest factories in the world.
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