Building Begins on 9 Homes for Needy

For Sigifredo Alejo, putting up sheets of plywood on a construction site Sunday was a bit different from his usual job as a machinist, but for him it was the best of causes.

Come Christmas, Alejo will be moving his family into one of nine houses that Habitat for Humanity plans for the now-empty property on Willis Avenue.

The work, Alejo said, “is a little hard” but more than worth it.

For the last four years, the Mexican immigrant has been living in a one-bedroom garage apartment in Pacoima with his wife, their young son and a niece.

One word describes what he most looks forward to in his new home: “Space,” Alejo said in Spanish.

“So we could live together and have enough room.”

Alejo’s new house will be part of a project begun by Habitat for Humanity on Saturday to build the first three of nine single-family dwellings. The three are expected to be finished in two weeks.

As part of a “sweat equity” agreement with the nonprofit home builder, Alejo and the other future homeowners on the site must each put in 500 hours of volunteer work on the project. The new homeowners also have to pay a small down payment and make monthly, interest-free mortgage payments.

About 65 volunteers were working Sunday with about 10 professionals.

“I build houses anyway,” said Dave Throgmorton, a general contractor from La Crescenta who was a volunteer “house captain” on Sunday.

The collaborative nature of the work is a nice change, he said, from the typical competitive atmosphere in the construction business.

Normally in the business, “you can’t get three guys in a room together,” he said. With Habitat for Humanity, however, “they come out here because they want to do it.”

Ellen Benkin, who lives in West Los Angeles, is spending her two-week vacation from her position in the UCLA vice chancellor’s office working on the site.

“My job doesn’t really produce a product,” Benkin said after cutting a 2-by-6 board with a power saw. At UCLA, Benkin sits in front of a computer all day, handling information services and data management.

“Here, I can say, ‘I put up that wall,’ ” Benkin said.

For information on how to volunteer, call (818) 765-2073.