A single mom dedicated to building
and owning her own home needs
help to fulfill her dream
Deborah Hinton has sentenced herself to hard labor for one year to fulfill a dream of owning her own home by building it from the foundation up -- but it is a labor of love.
"It's a one-year commitment but a lifetime achievement. ... I'm dedicated to my house," the Ewa Beach resident said.
The preschool aide is part of a team of 16 families building their own homes in the Ewa Villages subdivision under the Self-help Housing Corporation of Hawaii. But Hinton is scrambling to find volunteers to help her put in the required 32 hours of labor a week. Working full time -- and without a husband -- has limited the amount of time she can put into the house-building.
The team has until February to complete the building of the homes on lots averaging 5,000 square feet.
"The corporation has built 500 houses in the state since 1984," said Claudia Shay, who founded the corporation in response to the housing crisis. The families "are all working people, not people on welfare or anyone looking for a handout."
Most of them -- more than half women -- have never picked up a hammer in their lives, but they are learning on the job from a supervisor as they do "mass construction -- no one works only on their own home," Shay said.
Deborah Ann Hinton approaches the home that she is building in the Ewa Villages subdivision under the Self-help Housing Corporation of Hawaii. The preschool aide, who is part of a team of 16 families building their own homes, needs to put in 32 hours of labor a week but has trouble finding enough volunteers to help her fulfill that requirement.
Hinton, who has several grown children on the mainland, only has a 10-year-old daughter living with her. No one under 16 is allowed to help with construction.
She has been able to count only on one friend, Eugene Brown, "from day one," for help on Saturdays. Between the two they work 11-hour shifts on the weekends, bringing her weekly total to 22 hours. Once in a while, she has other friends and a brother to make up the deficit, but she is still about 20 hours short every month.
Ken and Delores Akinaka, who are on the new Advocacy and Referral Ministry at Harris United Methodist Church, have spread the word among their members about Hinton's dilemma. Hinton is African American, and a letter was sent to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The Akinakas serve as board members of the local chapter.
Yoshie and Jim Tanabe, both in their early 70s, were among the first to respond, and they have just been "wonderful," Hinton said.
Hinton said: "This (hands-on instruction) is how you really get to appreciate your house. Nobody can take this away from you. ... I built it from the ground up."
She points at the cable wire and proudly says, "I did that." And if something goes wrong with her TV reception later, she will know how to fix it.
Hinton has done everything from hoisting the heavy material for the roof to installing the fiberglass insulation material that caused a rash all over her arms.
"At the end of the day, I am filthy," Hinton said. "I mean, filthy!"
But when she walks from her car to her apartment, she sort of swaggers as she dons her tool belt and carries her hammer to "show off" that "I'm building my own home -- guys are really impressed."
As Hinton walks through her half-finished four-bedroom, two-bath house, she talks about her daughter having her own room for the first time and the day "she's gonna be so happy when I get the keys to my house."
To volunteer to help Hinton and another single mom, Terri Kinores, call loan assistant G. Andrade Silva at 842-7111.
