Urban league builds 1,000th home in Frenchtown
Special to the Outlook
The Tallahassee Urban League recently celebrated a historic milestone, rehabilitating its 1,000 home for low-income families.
Rehabbing homes since 1979, the Urban League along with the City of Tallahassee presented a new home of Henry Murphy. The home is located at 804 Delaware Street.
Henry Murphy holds a picture that shows what the interior of his old home looked like before a rebuild by the Urban League.
Photo by Tony Leavell
Curtis Taylor, interim president/CEO of the Urban League (left) gives Henry Murphy the keys to his new home on Delaware Street.
Photo by Tony Leavell
The TUL has rehabilitated some of the most dilapidated homes in Tallahassee, an initiative that is well documented.
Murphy previously lived in a dilapidated and dangerous home at the Delaware Street location, which was in deplorable condition. Some of the ceiling had fallen due to leaks. Termites had severely damaged the flooring, walls, and ceiling.
When the contractor began to work on the home, the walls began to fall apart, due to the extensive termite damage. The time had passed for termite treatment at this point, however, if it ever shows signs again, then luckily Murphy can note any change and call in pest control services straight away to handle it, as it is obvious this grandfather does not want to go through this heartbreak again.
When the house began to fall apart, the City of Tallahassee secured the necessary resources to demolish the old house and build Murphy a home from the ground up.
Murphy’s living conditions were discovered when Curtis Taylor, interim president/CEO of the Urban League, visited the home. Taylor discovered on the visit that Murphy’s two grandsons were sleeping in a local park. His daughter had also become addicted to drugs.
Meanwhile, Murphy went to the park to pick up his grandsons and moved them into his home to live.
After seeing what Murphy was willing to do for his grandsons, Taylor was determined not to give up, even after there were contractors who had originally said that the home could not be repaired. Many local contractors refused to bid on the rehabilitation because of the deplorable condition.
But Taylor and the Urban League were determined to see the Murphy family living in safer conditions.
