BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — The owner of a Habitat for Humanity home is speaking out after learning that she may be facing foreclosure after officials with the organization learned she may be renting out the home to a family.
Betty Bray owns the home on Testimony Street in Melbourne and denies allegations that she was renting out the home to Caprassia Holmes.
Holmes told Channel 9 on Monday that she did not know the home was a Habitat for Humanity house until recently, and now she and her family will have to move.
Bray told Channel 9 reporter Jeff Levkulich on the phone that she was helping Holmes out with a place to live and allowed her to stay at her home for the last five months.
She said she collected money from Holmes to stay at the home, but claims it was not for double the amount she pays for her mortgage, as Holmes claimed.
Holmes said she didn’t want to blow the whistle on her landlord since Bray helped her out, but things turned sour between the two.
“Apparently, she was profiting off of me,” said Holmes, who said she alerted Habitat for Humanity as soon as she found out from a neighbor she was living in a Habitat for Humanity home.
Bray also said she still lives at the home, where she keeps some of her belongings, and is adamant that Holmes does not officially live there.
Holmes didn’t deny that Bray stores some of her belongings at the house, but was adamant Bray doesn’t live there.
Residents in the area said they had not seen Bray for several months.
Habitat for Humanity of Brevard County director Diane Koenig said it’s not an open and shut case, and the organization still has to prove Bray was renting out the house.
Koenig said all the organization needs is a receipt that says Holmes paid Bray money for rent, even a dollar, and that could be enough grounds for foreclosure.
Habitat for Humanity of Brevard County sent Bray a letter alerting her that she is in default on her mortgage agreement.
The organization does not allow owners to rent out the homes unless the mortgage is paid off.
Bray must either pay the balance owed on her mortgage or transfer the property back to Habitat for Humanity.
The county property appraiser has launched an investigation as well.
Holmes, meanwhile, is looking for a new place to live for her six children and her disabled cousin.