More Habitat News

Ask Phil Johnson and he'll tell you: Builders aren't buying lots.
The developer had sat on 30 lots left in Clover Field, a development in Chaska, for a full year when -- "at last" -- Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity approached him about four of them. That was in addition to five other lots Habitat had bought from him a year earlier.
You see, Habitat for Humanity is buying -- lots of lots.
The nonprofit is capitalizing on a dogged housing market, snatching up property within stalled developments in cities it otherwise couldn't afford: Chaska, Ramsey and Woodbury among them.
And soon, it will move to benefit from another trend in housing -- foreclosures. Habitat is purchasing four vacant houses in St. Paul this month.
"It's a sad situation, this market, but we can't lose sight of the opportunity within it," said Sue Haigh, president of Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.
The dual strategies serve many parties. Habitat continues its goal of staking a claim in the suburbs. Developers find a willing buyer in a tough market. And cities boost their housing stock.
Twin Cities Habitat's work mirrors that of other Habitat chapters around the country, said Stephen Seidel, Habitat International's director of field operations.
"It's a new part of our ongoing relationships with cities and developers," he said. "These are conversations that hadn't been happening even six months ago."
Getting some bargains
Haigh became president of Twin Cities Habitat three years ago, during what she calls "the very peak of the boom" in real estate. At that point, the nonprofit -- whose mission is affordable home ownership -- had no inventory of lots and "couldn't even talk to people about purchasing land, it was so competitive," she said.
At that peak, the Chaska lots cost more than $60,000 apiece. In the past year, Habitat ended up buying them for $45,000 and $50,000. In Hopkins, the nonprofit is buying two more traditional single-family lots from the city for $75,000 each, down from the list price of $89,000.
The nonprofit and others like it are attempting to lock up as many lots as they can at today's lower prices before the market rebounds.
And the state's helping.
In November, the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency awarded Habitat a $1.4 million grant to purchase 28 to 35 parcels of land in Carver and Scott counties.
In most cases, Habitat won't build on a parcel until owning it for more than a year. The purchases are part of a new approach it and the state call "strategic land acquisition."
"When the market does turn around, we'll already have in place land for affordable housing, which in growing suburban communities is so difficult to get," said Tim Marx, state Housing Finance commissioner.
The finance agency just accepted applications for its next round of grants, and Habitat is just one of a number of applicants seeking funding for that purpose, he said.
Others include local affordable housing enterprises such as Chaska Community Land Trust, an organization that makes home-ownership affordable by selling the house but keeping the land. It applied for $500,000 in state funding to buy single-family houses, once "way, way out of our price range," said Matt Podhradsky, the organization's president and Chaska's assistant city administrator.
Townhouses have advantage
Habitat's strategy has required its volunteers to master building townhouses, which now make up about half the group's production.
"With the economies of scale, we get more for our money" with townhouses, said Karl Batalden, Habitat's director of government and community relations.
For example, Habitat just sold eight attached units in a development in Ramsey, where it plans to build more. The overall development is only half-done -- another victim of the market.
But the Twin Cities Habitat has never bought houses in foreclosure. After it closes on four homes in St. Paul's Dayton's Bluff area, the nonprofit plans to acquire more.
Although Habitat tends to build new housing, it also operates rehabilitation and repair programs and will likely fix up, rather than raze and rebuild, vacant houses that are in good shape.
The four St. Paul properties are in City Council Member Kathy Lantry's ward, where foreclosures are "an enormous problem," she said. About 2.5 percent of the city's 56,000 residential buildings are unoccupied.
Here and in other cities with a similar problem -- such as Detroit, Cleveland and Milwaukee -- Habitat is working with cities and lenders to buy vacant houses, Seidel said.
"Oftentimes these properties have complex stories behind them: title work, unpaid water bills," he said. "There's a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that has to get done."
A bill in this legislative session would make it easier for nonprofits dedicated to affordable housing to take possession of vacant, "nuisance" properties and rehab them.
Shifting to the suburbs
Although it still works in the core cities, since 2007, Habitat has strived to build 75 percent of its houses in the suburbs, where schools are good, the job market's growing and affordable housing is often needed.
Lemma Beti, his wife and children recently helped build and then moved into one of Habitat's first five houses in Clover Field in Chaska. Their home is within walking distance of commuter bus service, the elementary school his youngest daughter attends and a sizable trail system.
The lots in the development are narrow and meant for modestly priced homes; Beti's mortgage is $624.52 a month, 23 percent of his income as a truck driver. The house features three bedrooms, two stories and an unfinished basement. Most of the walls are still bare, although his sons' room features a single wrestling poster.
Before moving in, his family -- who fled Ethiopia during political unrest there -- rented an apartment in Riverside Plaza in Minneapolis, where three of his children slept on the floor.
"It was a troubled life," he said. "Now, this is my Habitat home, where my babies sleep, where they eat, where they go to school. It is a beautiful life."

Exciting News, I will probably get at least one of these

The city of Hopkins recently found a way to fill two vacant lots - a solution that will help two families.
The City Council approved a motion in its Feb. 19 meeting that authorizes selling the lots at 13 and 15 Harrison Avenue in Hopkins to Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity (TCHFH) for $75,000 each. TCHFH plans to construct two single-family homes with detached garages on the lots. It will be the organization's first project in Hopkins.
"We're excited to add a new home-ownership opportunity in the city," said Tara Beard, Hopkins' community-development coordinator.Councilmember Rick Brausen said the new homes would benefit the community."It's a win-win for the neighborhood and the city," he said.Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity's mission is to eliminate poverty housing from the metro area and make decent, affordable shelter for everyone. The organization sells its homes to families, who are selected based on need, for no profit and with zero-percent-interest mortgages. Homeowners pay full principal, taxes, insurance and maintenance escrow payments. The homes are sold at the fair market value, which is determined by an appraiser. Local volunteers help build the houses.Also, homebuyers are required to provide 300 to 500 hours of "sweat equity," helping to build their home or other Habitat homes, and attend 11 first-time homebuyer classes.The two vacant lots on Harrison Avenue used to belong to Surge Water Conditioning. The city purchased the property for $33,668 in 2006 when it was expanding Excelsior Boulevard in the area. It re-zoned the property for residential use in March 2007 and hired a realtor to sell the lots for sale. Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity indicated an interest in the lots at the end of last year.The profit the city stands to make on the sale will go towards paying down debt on the Hopkins Center for the Arts, Beard said.Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity is requesting $50,000 through Hennepin County's Home Investment Partnership Program to purchase the lots.Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity focuses its land-acquisition activity in cities that have good job growth and high-quality schools, such as Hopkins, said Karl Batalden, government and community-relations officer for the organization."It's wonderful partnering with Hopkins," he said. "Every time we can work with a new community is a good thing."When the organization moves into a new community, he said, it forms partnerships with churches, rotaries and businesses that often last beyond one project."Being able to meet new partners helps sustain our future," Batalden said.Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity interviews about 300 applicants each year for one of its houses. About 60 are chosen based on financial need and living conditions. They must demonstrate they have a stable income and the ability to make monthly mortgage payments.The Hopkins City Council requested that Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity market their program to Hopkins residents. Batalden said the organization can't guarantee that the two homes will be sold to Hopkins residents, but added that good applicants from within the city might have a better shot because they will be ranked higher in terms of community relationship.He said he expects construction on the two homes to begin in late 2008 and for families to move into them in 2009.

This is Sisay Shibesi and his family. They will be living in unit D. This is the first time his kids have seen their new house.

Missey

This is Missey, she and her husband Mikhail will be living in unit E. They are from Eritriea, in Eastern Africa

Johannes

I would like to introduce you to Yohannes, he will be living in unit G. He is from Ethoeopia, and came to the US to work as an evangelist to American muslims.

Abdi and Osman

Bethel U Students

More TCCC

Becca and Dom

TCCC Caulking counters

S. Washington Co. Bulliten on Habitat build in SPP

This is an article about the duplex in St Paul Park I worked on last spring and summer. The dedication was especially nice.


"One meal, one hour, one afternoon of mudding—it took all of us to build these houses," said the Rev. John Snider of St. Stephens Lutheran Church Saturday morning, as he gave the opening invocation at Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity's official dedication of attached homes at 902 and 904 Hastings Avenue.
"None of us could do this alone," Snider told more than 60 volunteers, donors, families and friends who attended the ceremony.
Construction began on the two homes last summer on land donated to Twin Cities Habitat by Dave Pawlik, his wife Nancy and brother John.
Dave Pawlik told the crowd "two homes had to be built on the land" that was owned for more than 50 years by his parents, Beverly and Gerald Pawlik.
"For the last 10 years of her life, mother took care of my sister, Jane, who suffered from multiple sclerosis," Pawlik said. "My mother only lived five months after Jane died. She asked that the land be donated, and we decided two Habitat structures would be the best use—one in memory of both mother and Jane.
"Their spirits are shining through this dedication," he said. "Sometimes you just want to give and it's nice to be part of someone else's miracle."
Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity homes are built by volunteers and their prospective families led by a core Habitat team. Volunteers from donor companies and many Lutheran churches in south Washington County and surrounding communities worked on the project.
St. Paul Park resident Lauren VanPelt put together a team of volunteers from St. Stephens that included his daughter, Veronica, and her friend Liz Doherty, both students at Park High School.
"I believe in the (Habitat) cause," he said prior to the dedication ceremony. "The best way to solve poverty is home ownership."
In accepting one of the houses for his family, Astras Ataya, a 2005 immigrant from Ethiopia, thanked—through an interpreter—all the volunteers.
"You respected us and we learned a lot from working with you," Ataya said. "Thank you very much. We are very proud."
Lillian Saliente and her five children, formerly of the Philippines, will move into the second house.
Choked with tears, she told the crowd that Saturday was "one of the most wonderful days in the life of my family."
She thanked everyone for their help "even on the coldest days."
Volunteers and donors attending the dedication didn't come empty-handed, they had lots of gifts that will come in handy for the new homeowners.
Habitat for Humanity International is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry.
It seeks to eliminate homelessness from the world. In addition to a down payment and the monthly mortgage payments, homeowners invest hundreds of hours of their own labor in building their Habitat house and the houses of others.
Through volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, Habitat builds and rehabilitates simple houses with the help of the homeowner families. Habitat houses are sold to partner families at no profit and financed with affordable loans. The homeowners' monthly mortgage payments are used to build more Habitat houses.
By Toni LambertSouth Washington County BulletinFebruary 20, 2008

Lunar Eclipse

Katie, Josh, and Becca working on a kitchen counter cap.

Woodbury March of 2008, almost done.

Early morning moon over Woodbury

A falling truss drove a 2x4 through 3/4 osb subfloor, nice hole.

Cool clouds on my way home from work.

Units A,B,C, and D

Soon to be unit "D", part of an 8 plex in Woodbury

The other half of the duplex

This is part of first build I worked on in St Paul Park.

First Post

I've always thought you had to be a little nuts to blog, but I really enjoy what I do, and would like to share some pictures and stories with anyone who might be interested.

Our goal is:

To eliminate poverty housing, and make decent affordable housing a matter of consience