Charla Blake
Executive Director
PBAF
Project Build a Future is revitalizing the Lake Charles community by building quality, affordable homes—and offering people a path to homeownership and financial success.
For two decades, Project Build a Future (PBAF) has been building high-quality homes in its target area—north of Broad Street in Lake Charles—and helping people qualify to own them.
“We build homes that beautify our community,” said PBAF Executive Director Charla Blake, “homes that provide pride and hope for potential homebuyers, as well as an opportunity for a stable financial future.”
New Home Construction
PBAF’s New Construction Program builds homes that are a true asset to the neighborhood and to the homebuyer. The 1,400-square-foot houses have three bedrooms and two baths. They are built to hurricane standards and include energy-efficient features and beautiful finishes such as crown molding, ceiling fans and open floor plans. PBAF homebuyers can assist in selecting flooring and interior paint colors, the finish on the electrical fixtures, etc.
“Everyone knows how the cost of construction has skyrocketed recently,” Blake said. “We used to build our houses for $135 per square foot, and now the cost is more than $200 a foot. That—plus the cost of land—takes the total cost of a house well over $200,000. Even so, we want to keep the price affordable so families can buy our houses for around $150,000. That means we have to make up the difference with help from the community.”
Everyone Can Help Build a Better Future
There are several ways the community can help PBAF meet the challenge of offering affordable homes. Some givers help directly with generous donations to the program (and some of these are matched by employers’ matching gift programs). Others help by donating building materials, equipment, furniture, appliances or professional services related to homebuilding. Land for new homes is always needed, and PBAF acquires property by fair-market-value purchase, by donation or a combination of both.
“We’re encouraged that many people see the good work that Project Build a Future does, and generously ‘invest’ in our program,” said Blake. “Every home that we provide improves and strengthens our community.”
Homebuyer Counseling and Education
Participants entering the program begin the path to home ownership with PBAF’s Homebuyer Counseling and Education Program. Homebuyer Counselors meet individually with homebuyers to work on budgets, examine income and determine how much home a family can afford. For participants with credit/debt issues, PBAF Homebuyer Counselors work closely with the homebuyers to help them repair their credit, reduce their debt, start saving—and ultimately get into a position to obtain mortgage approval and to purchase a home.
PBAF’s homebuyer counseling services lay a solid foundation for a family’s financial success, which strengthens their ability to be successful over the long term. In fact, PBAF has seen no foreclosures on any of its homes since its inception in 2001.
More Affordable Homes, More Successful Homeowners
“We’ve set our sights on growth,” Blake said. “We’re planning to build even more homes in 2023 and help even more families achieve ‘the American Dream’ of owning their own home.”
Revitalizing the community one home at a time, Project Build a Future is building a bright future for Lake Charles.
Provided by Project Build a Future
