Habitat for Humanity is a Christian organization striving to end poverty housing throughout the world, and in our little piece of the world that is Richland and Crawford counties, volunteers and donors of all nationalities, races and creeds have worked hard toward ending poverty housing in the community.
Veronna Drane, executive director at the Richland County Habitat for Humanity, has worked with Habitat for 10 of the last 26 years the organization has been in the county.
“It started as a purely volunteer organization back in 1988; a group of citizens got together and said, ‘Hey, we live here, it isn’t right that these people don’t have the simple, decent housing we have,’” said Drane. “Working with a grant from the Richland County Foundation they were able to start the organization.”
In the span of its existence in Richland County, Habitat has completed approximately 44 houses in Richland County and seven in Crawford County. In a good construction year, the organization can complete one and a half to two houses. Historically the majority of Habitat’s funding has come from grants, and every house built is sponsored in some way. In recent years, Habitat has completed more “rehab” or “recycled” houses rather than building new houses.
“It’s harder and harder to find those dollars,” said Drane. “There are so many houses out there that just need a little bit of love, so we’re always talking partnerships, talking to Richland County and Crawford County and the different municipalities trying to find ways we can partner together to take care of these vacant and foreclosed houses.”
Drane said in the past, Habitat could build a house for $55,000 and appraise it for $75,000, but the housing market has not been as generous in recent years. However, expenses involved in rehabbing a house can sometimes add up to just as much if not more as building a brand-new house.
“What the problem is right now is there are so many good houses out there that need love, however what comes with some of that is lead abatement, asbestos, so what we’re finding is sometimes in these rehab instances is it costs more to rehab,” said Drane. “It’s really a guessing game sometimes.”
Each family in a Habitat house must first complete an application process that involves a look at their credit history and a home visit. Drane explained the organization looks at the kind of debt an applicant may have and how that debt is managed; they also look to see what kind of situation the applicant is living in, and how they are taking care of that situation.
“We look at their need, which may be something as simple as they don’t qualify for a regular mortgage,” said Drane. “Or, to use an example of one of our families from the past, there were 11 people living in five rooms, not five bedrooms. We’ve had families living with the only heat they have is the furnace sitting in the middle of the kitchen. Those cases of need are very obvious.”
Drane stated the Habitat home is deeded to the family with a promissory note detailing how much their payment will be, and that payment is based on the cost of the house. The family is listed as the homeowner, but they pay their mortgage to Habitat. The mortgage agreement also requires the Habitat house be the family’s primary household. They cannot rent the house and cannot bring other families in to live with them.
“We’re taking them out of these overcrowded situations, and we don’t want to put them back into them,” Drane explained. “We also require they maintain the property, because we want to protect our investment. We’re asking donors to donate the money to buy the materials, we’re asking volunteers to donate 3,000 hours to build a house, the last thing they want to see driving by is a house that’s not being taken care of.”
Drane noted after going through the application process, some applicants might not qualify for a Habitat house. In those cases, Drane steers the applications towards other programs that might help them.
“Not everybody is equipped to own a home, to mow the lawn or make the repairs, and you want to make sure you are not setting them up for failure,” she said.
Another requirement of Habitat applications is their willingness to partner, investing time and “sweat equity” working on their homes, other homes, and volunteering in the community. For each home, Drane said it takes approximately 3,000 volunteer hours from start to finish. Applicants are also required to attend classes that teach basic skills such as smart spending, basic budgeting, and home maintenance.
“Basic things that when you’re a renter you may never have to take care of,” Drane explained. “We want to arm them with the knowledge they need to succeed, because their success betters our community but in turn those mortgage payments come back in to help us continue to help other families.”
Volunteers are also needed in Habitat’s ReStore, which first opened in Richland County in July 2013. Drane said all items in the ReStore are donated, and are eventually sold if they cannot be used in construction of new houses, and all proceeds are rolled back into Habitat to support the mission.
“The goal is at some point this will make enough to cover all of our operating expenses so 100 percent of donated dollars can go to programs,” she said. “I think we can do it; we have more donations than we can handle. With the ReStore hopefully we can increase those funds and be able to do two to two and a half.”
For the most part, Drane said people in the community have embraced their local Habitat for Humanity and what it represents, but there are still occasional misconceptions.
“We don’t give houses away for free, the families are not all welfare recipients, and they do have sustainable income of some kind,” said Drane. “If we could dispel some of those rumors people might be a little more understanding about it. These are people looking for a hand up, not a handout, and they just need a little help to get out of that cycle of renting.”
