In creating new homes, Habitat for Humanity follows one rule: Keep it simple, decent and affordable.
No blueprint is set in stone for the not-for-profit builder, which offers needy families homes at cut-rate prices and mortgages at zero-percent interest.
Each of Habitat’s autonomous local chapters goes about this in its own way. In Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, its volunteers gut and rehab decrepit buildings. In DuPage County, they build single-family homes. In the south suburbs, they do both.
“What works in Pilsen doesn’t necessarily work in Uptown,” says Sean Heath of the Pilsen-Little Village chapter. “We’re always aiming for homeownership, but in some cases that can be a three-bedroom house and in others a condo.”
Along the way, Habitat sometimes stretches the definition of simple. The home it typically builds in the rural South–a one-story house with three bedrooms, vinyl siding and no garage–would look out of place and fail to win plan permission in many Chicago communities. Locally, Habitat compromises by developing homes that are usually smaller than 1,200 square feet yet rise to a neighborhood’s aesthetic standards.
As a result, the DuPage County chapter is working on four split-level houses with two-car garages in Glendale Heights. The Lake County group spends a little extra to add front porches to its single-family homes in Waukegan. In Hazel Crest, the Chicago South chapter breaks ground this month on an all-brick ranch house.
“It has to be all brick to conform with the building code, but it’s still simple,” says Priscilla Kopf, administrative director of the Chicago South chapter. “It’s a regular three-bedroom ranch with one bath.”
Adds Julie Donovan, executive director of the Lake County group, “What we’re building here is a castle compared to what Humanity builds in Appalachia. But we have to do what works here.”
Such flexibility may explain how a charity founded in Americus, Ga., in 1976 has managed to build more than 50,000 homes worldwide, becoming this nation’s 20th largest builder by 1995. In Illinois, 43 Habitat chapters have built at least 157 new houses and rehabbed or repaired 161 buildings.
Those homes go to families who otherwise could never afford to own. Each chapter has its own guidelines: The Chicago South group sells to families who earn $18,000 a year or less; the Proviso group (which serves western Cook County), to families between $9,000 and $21,600; the Lake County group, to those earning between $18,000 and $28,000.
Families who apply for Habitat houses are often referred by churches or community organizations. They are approved only after supplying references, allowing a home visit, and proving that they owe no taxes. In addition, they must help build their own home and one for another family. Requirements vary, but in DuPage County families must work between 500 and 1,000 hours, make a $500 deposit, and pay some closing costs. For each family who is accepted, 30 apply.
“Habitat provides a hand up, not a handout,” says Richard Nogaj, president of the DuPage chapter. “If you want a Habitat home, you have to work for it, give up and sacrifice.”
Adds Rose Robinson, vice president of the Proviso chapter, “We try to house decent families. We don’t want families who will bring down a neighborhood, but people who are really interested in owning a home.”
Despite that attitude, Habitat has met opposition in some areas, particularly DuPage County. Projects in West Chicago and Wheaton have been stymied by complaints from residents, who typically fear declining property values and possible social friction.
In Glendale Heights, Habitat sidestepped opponents by buying 20 lots already zoned for single-family homes. Some residents were outraged, and Habitat eventually agreed to build only four houses at first, giving the Village of Glendale Heights the option to buy the other 16 lots if it wishes.
“There’s a lot of fear of low-income families, based on stereotypes,” says Nogaj. “After people see the homes we build, and see the families taking care of them, that (fear) will go away.”
The reception is far warmer in Chicago, where the West Side chapter is working with community groups to revitalize blighted blocks of the West Lawndale and West Garfield neighborhoods, or in Waukegan, where the South Utica neighborhood has seen its first construction in many years.
To keep building costs down, chapters scrabble for donations of money and materials, land and labor. “Funding is a big challenge,” says Proviso’s Robinson. “We need people who can write grant proposals and plan fund-raising. We need licensed plumbers and electricians. And we need them at all times.”
That need is so urgent because Habitat sells its homes, not at a profit, but at a price that covers the building cost. The less it spends building a house, the less it eventually has to charge. Although it occasionally pays for electricians, plumbers or other technicians, Habitat tries to build entirely with volunteer labor.
In Pilsen, such penny-pinching allows Habitat to sell a four-bedroom home for less than $40,000. “We have been working on buildings that are in such bad condition that they really aren’t economically feasible for any other group to take on,” says Heath. “Using volunteer labor, we can make those buildings affordable. We’re the bottom feeders in the food chain–we clean up what nobody else takes.”
Habitat accepts help from all quarters, from companies such as retailer Dayton-Hudson, which has paid contractors to help with Habitat homes in DuPage; to unions such as the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, whose members volunteer on Pilsen rehabs; to prisoners at the Illinois Youth Detention Center, who hammer wood into eight-foot sections of wall for the Lake County chapter.
Relying on volunteers has its downside. Unlike other builders, Habitat cannot insist that work be completed by a certain date. “It slows the process, because people get there when they can,” says Heath. “We don’t schedule, we sequence.”
Curbing costs is easier in some areas than others. In Lake County, for example, the City of Waukegan has given Habitat vacant lots, allowing it to build six houses there so far. “I should be so lucky,” says Proviso’s Robinson. Her chapter generally pays between $10,000 and $15,000 for a lot.
Land prices effectively zone Habitat out of some neighborhoods. “We sell our houses for $55,000, but in some areas a lot alone would cost $55,000,” says Donovan. “In Lake Forest or Barrington, the amount of land we would have to buy (under the building code) would be too much. We’re priced out of there.”
Because Habitat homes always cost less than their market value, chapters take precautions to make sure buyers do not immediately sell to make a profit.
Some, for example, issue buyers two mortgages. The first is a no-interest loan with payments, usually of less than $400 a month. The second requires no payments; instead, it is gradually forgiven as homeowners pay off the first. If the house is sold, the outstanding portion of this second mortgage–which is for the full market value of the house–must be paid.
“It’s a way for us to protect our investment,” says Donovan. “There’s too much temptation to make a quick profit otherwise.”
Because most of Habitat’s clients are new to homeownership, several chapters take pains to prepare them for their new responsibilities. Chicago’s West Side chapter, for example, requires buyers to attend at least nine classes a year on topics such as home repairs, winterizing and gardening.
“It’s a form of empowerment to know that you are responsible for this, that this is mine,” says Stephanie Packard-Bell, executive director of the West Side chapter. “We have a problem in this area with gangs but there is not one Habitat house with tagging (graffiti) on it. People will not let it happen.”
Habitat’s work at a glance
Pilsen-Little Village, Chicago: Has rehabbed eight homes since 1988. Is now turning a building at 1137 W. 17th St. into two four-bedroom units.
West Side, Chicago: Since 1983, has sold two single-family houses and 21 condos and repaired 13 homes for needy seniors. Now repairing three senior citizens’ homes and converting an abandoned building at 800 S. Independence Blvd. into a co-op.
Chicago south: Since 1988, has housed 13 families, one in a new house, the rest in rehabs. Breaking ground on a ranch house at 16785 Western Ave., Hazel Crest; finishing rehab of a house at 151 E. 157 St., Harvey.
DuPage County: Has built 10 single-family houses since 1995; plans to complete homes in Glendale Heights in September and October.
Proviso, serving western Cook County: Since 1994, has built two single-family homes in Maywood and Cicero, and repaired six homes. Planning to build a single-family in Maywood, and trying to raise funds to build on a lot in Summit.
Lake County: Since 1989, has built 21 single-family homes in North Chicago, Zion, Round Lake Beach and Waukegan. Now building four single-family homes in Waukegan; will break ground on two others nearby this summer.
