Doors2Change Clearing Roadblocks: Veteran Waits Years For Home Repairs

Published: Monday, January 19, 2015 at 12:01 a.m. Last Modified: Tuesday, January 20, 2015 at 12:06 a.m.

Hopper's sister, Vera Freeze, contacted Doors2Change, a local group with the purpose of improving homes in Eloise.

A representative then contacted Hopper and said his home would be one of their first projects. They said it would make major repairs, which Hopper, who had no insurance on the house, couldn't afford.

Today, however, the house on Third Street still isn't inhabitable. Hopper and his former wife, Lavonia Martin, with whom he has been living since the fire, are angry, and say they feel as though they have been passed over by the group they thought could help them.

"They told me to 'just hang in there,' " Hopper said. "They weren't returning calls. My ex-wife tried to call them, then my daughter did, and then my granddaughter called, and there was no response."

Since the fire, the house has fallen victim to thieves and vandals who broke in and "messed with" the house, Martin said.

Martin lamented the state of the house, saying she was "scared to walk inside."

"The more it sits there, the worse it's going to get," she said.

When Hopper and his family initially approached the charity for help, Doors2Change didn't yet have the grant funds that would allow it to fix houses since it was a new program at the time, founder Jane Waters-Thomas said.

"The cost of fixing the electrical equipment alone was greater than what we had to spend," Waters-Thomas said.

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Doors2Change Clearing Roadblocks: Veteran Waits Years For Home Repairs