The City of La Porte and the La Porte Civic Center opened their doors to the community on Saturday for a free housing fair. The city realized how important it was to share this information on home ownership with their community, and, therefore, took it upon themselves to organize the first housing fair.
"We see the need for information about home ownership within the community," said Mary Anne Richards, GBGD Program Coordinator for the City of La Porte. "It's important to know what goes into buying a house, understanding financial literacy, and balancing your paychecks to where you do not need to be a renter your whole life. With 81 percent of the houses within the city constructed before 1980, we also see a need for education on the effects of lead."
The event took everything into consideration and brought out qualified vendors to help run a successful housing fair. With all the different stands, visitors were able to get any information that they felt was necessary.
"We have about 17 to 20 vendors here," said Brett Binversie, Direct of the Civic Auditorium. "We have such an array of vendors ranging from Lowe's to banks. It is just an all-around cross section of people that would be involved in housing development and home sales."
Along with having different vendors there to help any visitor with questions or concerns, the housing fair also was able to draw people in for different presentations throughout the day that could help clarify some of the bigger issues people are finding in their La Porte homes. This was just another way to get information across to their visitors in a more in-depth manner.
Among one of the vendors at the housing fair was Leigh Coburn, Founder and President of Homeward Bound Incorporated. Homeward Bound is a non-profit organization hoping to build "a village of hope" for those who currently do not have a home. Coburn found this event to be very important and helpful in spreading the word about his new organization.
"This event gives me a solid platform to help people learn not to be afraid of what we are doing, but to be proud of it," said Coburn.
With this being just the first year for the housing fair, the City of La Porte hopes to come back next year and bring in an even larger crowd to help spread this meaningful information.
