It is an abandoned, run down row home in uptown Harrisburg. But it was supposed to be Rashelle Davis's dream. And that dream never came true.
Instead, Davis, her husband and their two children live in a two bedroom apartment in Susquehanna Township, Dauphin County.
"Space is very important when you have children," Davis said. "I wanted a home for my kids because a lot of, especially african american children, cannot say their parents owned a home for them."
That's why, in October 2007, Davis wrote a letter to
LoveSHIP, Inc., for the chance to win a home through the "First Home Dream Program." The program aims to provide lower income family, who would not qualify for a traditional loan, with the opportunity to own a home.
Fifty people applied. A winner was chosen. And that winner was Rashelle Davis.
"It was great when she came knocking on my door and said that you have won a home," Davis said of when she found out the good news. "I was so happy."
LoveSHIP, Inc. is a Harrisburg non-profit that focuses on empowering disadvantaged people. Their website lists LoveSHIP's specialties as being able to help families with job training, education assistance and housing help.
The site also has a link for
"Success Stories." There is only one listed. And that is Rashelle Davis' story.
CBS 21 News attended a LoveSHIP home ownership expo in the summer of 2008 at the Farm Show Complex. It is an annual event where the organization helps people to complete loan applications, choose real estate agents and to maneuver the tricky process of buying a home.
While there, we spoke with LoveSHIP's founder and C.E.O. Linda Thompson, current city council president and Democratic candidate for mayor of Harrisburg.
"All too often we see homeowners who go out there with the excitement of getting that first home and the end up losing the home because they don't know what they got into," Thompson said in 2008, after the Davis' had won their home.
LoveSHIP contracted with Reynolds Construction Management to do the necessary renovations for 2308 Jefferson Street, the abandoned house that was selected to be the Davis' dream home. At the time, a representative from Reynolds told the Harrisburg Patriot News that it would take tens of thousands of dollars and an estimated 90 days to do the work.
But that work never happened. And to this day, the Davis' have never set foot in the house.
CBS 21 News contacted Reynolds Construction to find out what happened, and why the work was apparently never started. A representative from the company emailed back that Reynolds, "has no comment on the First Home Dream project with Loveship."
2308 Jefferson Street is owned by the Harrisburg Redevelopment Authority, and has been since January 26, 2007. Bryan Davis, the executive director of the Redevelopment Authority, told CBS 21 News that it was purchased as a candidate for one of two city-run programs: the Youth Build program, where city school students learn to work a carpentry trade, or the Homeownership Opportunities Program (HOP), where the city works with a low-income family to help them afford a first home.
Davis said this week that LoveSHIP never owned the property. Instead, he said the city and the authority designated LoveSHIP as the developer for the property after Linda Thompson approached them with a plan for the Home Dream program.
Davis said he was aware that the property transfer fell apart somewhere along the line, but did not know how or exactly when.
So, CBS 21 News went to Linda Thompson, LoveSHIP's C.E.O., to ask her what happened.
When asked about Rashelle Davis by name, and the house by its address, Thompson at first said she did not know who Davis was and asked if by 2308 Jefferson we meant the LoveSHIP headquarters, which are in the 2300 block of nearby North 5th Street.
But then Thompson remembered.
"Rashelle Davis was a candidate from a home giveaway program and at the end of the day she didn't qualify, bottom line," Thompson said, minutes after receiving an endorsement for mayor by Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell.
When asked what happened, Thompson said, "I don't know. She didn't qualify, simple as that."
When asked if it was Thompson herself who made the determination that Rashelle Davis and her family did not qualify, Thompson said, "No, it was the board's."
Thompson put us in touch with Gerald Robinson, who is LoveSHIP's attorney. Robinson reiterated Thompson's statement that the Davis' did not qualify.
"They did not complete the application process," Robinson said Among the requirements in the process are that both Davis and her husband had to prove they were employed, and each of them had to attend several meetings with LoveSHIP's representatives.
"The wife, we had no problem with," Robinson said. "It was the husband who we had problems with."
So we asked Rashelle Davis about LoveSHIP's explanation.
"He (my husband) wasn't there at many of the meetings due to the fact that he had to work. And then there were times he didn't have a job," Davis said. "He wasn't at the meetings. But it was never put out there that it had to be him actually there."
Gerald Robinson told CBS 21 News that on July 23, 2008 LoveSHIP sent a letter requesting that both Davis' attend the meetings, and that Mr. Davis needed to provide pay stubs.
And on April 4, 2009, LoveSHIP sent another letter telling the Davis' that "we have closed your account."
So 2308 Jefferson still sits abandoned. Bryan Davis with the Harrisburg Redevelopment Authority tells CBS 21 News that it is no longer an option for the Home Dream program, and that it will eventually be used for its original intended purpose. Within the past year, Davis said the city has paid to have a new roof installed, the interior gutted, insulation put into the common walls and a new sewer line put in place. The sewer line, Davis said, was installed earlier this month.
Rashelle Davis said she and her husband are saving for a house of their own someday. Davis said she is still upset about what transpired, but does not hold Linda Thompson personally responsible.
"I'm still thankful that she took the opportunity to select me as the winner," Davis said of Thompson.
But Davis' problem is with her situation being listed as a "success" on LoveSHIP's website.
"It wasn't a success story if I haven't received what was promised to me," Davis said. "As for being on the website as a success story, it's not true."
