A House For Mary
Community Partners : International Relief and Development, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, City of Gulport, Mississippi Center for Justice
Mary grew up in a modest house on a very narrow lot in Soria City. As an adult, she continued to live in the house, along with her two teenage grandchildren, until the house was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina. Due to extensive mold and structural damage, the house was demolished in 2007 and plans were made to rebuild a new house. Mary worked with a number of case management and volunteer organizations for a few years without success, because of challenges incurred due to the small size of her lot. Rebuilding a similarly-sized house on her property required a number of difficult variances from the City, along with a few easements from her neighbors, in combination with a tight floor plan to accommodate Mary and her grandchildren’s needs.
The GCCDS began working with Mary in the fall of 2009, as a referral through International Relief and Development (IRD). After extensive site analysis, that included survey of the surrounding lots, it was determined that the zoning issues that Mary was facing just to rebuild her damaged home were not exclusive to her project; nearly all of the property owners in the neighborhood faced similar obstacles when trying to improve their properties. With help from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, and the Mississippi Center for Justice, the GCCDS was able to help Mary obtain the necessary variances to keep her project moving forward. Additionally, the GCCDS worked with the City of Gulfport Planning staff to change the zoning regulations for existing neighborhoods throughout the entire city, to ease the process for homeowners rebuilding in historical neighborhoods.
Mary’s house is designed to fit three bedrooms, a full bathroom, a kitchen, a living room, a dining room, and a covered front and back porch, all within a footprint of less than 900 square feet. The narrow floor plan required many of the interior walls to be sheathed on both sides with structural panels, in order to build capacity to resist high wind loads. Construction began in November of 2010 and Mary was able to move into her house in the spring of 2011.
