Independence and Renewal Come With Homeownership

When Leon Gelzer helped HFH New York City find land for house building in Brooklyn, he never dreamed he would ultimately own one of the houses.

As the assistant director of the Northeast Brooklyn Housing Development Corp., Gelzer has marketed and sold more than 800 units of affordable housing. Two things kept him from buying a home for his own family—conflict of interest and money.

“When we would sign contracts, people would ask, ‘Do you live here?’” Gelzer says. “I would say yes. I feared the question they would ask next: ‘Do you own a home here?’ I would say, ‘Not at the present.’”

The irony was not lost on him. While he was helping other families make their dreams come true, his own family’s housing situation could only be described as a nightmare. Leon and Shelly Gelzers’ apartment building was next door to a drug house, and addicts lined up in the morning beside their door to buy drugs. Their children stepped over crack vials and needles on their way out the door to school, and the landlord was forced to install a security gate to keep drug dealers from hanging out in the hallways. Playing outside was not an option.

For a man with a master’s degree in economic development, it was a difficult reality to face. It was not the future he wanted for his daughters, Tierrani, 12, and Leah, 4, and his son, Leon Jr., 9.

When Habitat first came to Brooklyn, the Gelzers were on their way to buying a house. They had saved $13,000 toward a down payment and were beginning to look for houses. Wanting to stay in the neighborhood, their choices were priced at about $200,000. Leon began to volunteer with Habitat on the weekends, never realizing that they would qualify for a home.

Part of the joy of being a Habitat volunteer, he says, is the people you meet.

“You get to work with a lot of fabulous people,” he says. “I see people who volunteer work harder than paid employees. They’re working for a common cause.”

The Gelzers applied for a Habitat house. By May 2000, a letter regarding their application arrived. Shelly called Leon at the office.

“I said, ‘Don’t open it. Wait until I get home,’” he recalls. “I rushed home. When we read, ‘Congratulations, you have been approved for a Habitat home,’ we just started crying. God is good.”

The Gelzer family will pay about $130,000 for their new, three-story rowhouse, an amount they can afford while they also pay tuition for Shelly to continue working on her degree in early childhood education. She’s using the skills she learned working at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens to plan an elaborate garden of both vegetables and flowers.

With his background as a tenant organizer and housing developer, Leon is serving as the chairman of the new homeowner’s association.

They are thrilled to already know their neighbors. “We were always worried the old apartment would be broken into,” Leon says. “It’s a relief knowing our neighbors are employed and looking out for our well-being.”

The Gelzer family wanted to make sure the readers of Habitat World know how much they treasure their new home.

“This means independence, life renewal and prestige,” Leon says. “I’m the first in my generation [in my family] to acquire a home.”


--Pat Curry





Reprinted from Habitat World Magazine, December 2000/January 2001.
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©2000 Habitat for Humanity International