The effect of homeownership on the next generation

As you may be aware, last night we dedicated three homes at Builders’ Circle. For supporters of Habitat, this is a time of celebration and relief that the job is finally done. After this moment, the volunteers don’t usually see what happens to the families down the road. They pick up their tool belts and move onto the next build.

However, homeownership is not just a means to an end. If our goal was just shelter, we could build rental units or a field of barracks. This wouldn’t be very personable but it would serve the goal of someplace warm to sleep.

Habitat for Humanity promotes homeownership because we believe that it has the power to fundamentally change someone’s situation. It provides stability for the families and something they can own in 20 years. This means no longer having to fear rent hikes or housing costs at retirement. It means a place that a family can call their own.

All statistics from research compiled by the Cincinnati office of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, April 2003 Homeownership Builds Successful Children

Compared to children of renters (of the same age, income, race, etc.), children of homeowners:

• Are 25% more likely to graduate from high school
• Are 116% more likely to graduate from college
• Are 20% less likely to become teenage mothers
• Have 9% higher math scores
• Have 7% higher reading scores
• Have 3% fewer behavior problems
• Are 59% more likely to own a home within 10 years of moving from parent’s household
• Save taxpayers an estimated $34,000 in public expenditures (i.e. the cost of juvenile delinquency, teenage pregnancy, etc.) that would have been spent had they remained in rented housing.

However you interpret the numbers, we believe that homeownership can have a heavy correlation on the success of the next generation. If anything it makes life easier for that individual household.

Thank you for this year’s support of Habitat for Humanity of Springfield, MO. The next year looks promising. Contributions from Federal Home Loan Bank in Des Moines mean 50 repair projects for homeowners in need. We will also be working on completing 6 homes in Legacy Trails by May. Enjoy your holidays and time with friends and family. Don’t forget to check on us in the New Year. I am sure we will need your help on the job site.

Beyond the debate of the Occupy Movement: Just the facts of what it costs to live in America

1. More than 13 percent of the U.S. population now lives in poverty. That is one in eight adults or one in six children.
2. Families with children are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population in the United States.
3. There is no state, county, or metropolitan area in the nation where someone working 40 hours a week at minimum wage could afford the Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom rental.
4. At $7.25 an hour, a minimum wage worker would have to work more than 58 hours a week, 52 weeks per year, just to keep a family of four above the poverty line.
5. The poverty line is $22,050 per year for the average family of four, $18,310 for a family of three. Even so, 2.5 million Americans work full-time all year long and still live below the poverty line.

What can we do about it? As a faith based organization, Habitat for Humanity is compelled to make housing affordable. There are other social needs like food, clothing, and education that many other beautiful non-profits seek to alleviate. If those are the causes that touch your heart, I am sure they would love your help as well. If we all focus on one thing, we can make the world a better place. Right now I have chosen affordable housing.

When you help build a home through Habitat, you are helping a family out of poverty  but they are helping themselves as well. They commit to 300-350 hours of “sweat equity” and a 20 year 0% interest, no profit mortgage. These mortgages are then used by Habitat to help more families in the future.

Increasing minimum wage only increases inflation, and policy will never change the hearts of the citizens. While social advocacy for legislation is important, so is action. Not the kind of action that overthrows but the kind of action that promotes.

I was recently moved by a book by Pastor Greg Boyd called “The Myth of a Christian Nation: how the quest for power is destroying the church.” While the name may offend some, I think the message would resonate with many. Christ came to teach a new way, a way that promotes love and a “power under not power over” relationship.

I think anyone of any faith can appreciate Christ’s example to wash the feet of his disciples. If he was willing to wash the feet of those following him, then we should take a humble mindset towards service.

I encourage you to help us continue our mission of providing affordable housing by volunteering with us. Our model is only affordable for the homeowners because of your donations, materials, and labor. Without it, we would just be a low-income construction company, dependent on subsidies from the government.

A Thank You to the MSU Chapter from Peggy Anderson

Awhile back, the MSU chapter spent a few weekends cleaning out a yard for someone in need. As time progressed the volunteers got to know Peggy Anderson, the homeowner, and she fell in love with them.

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Peggy is a kind older lady and as time went by she became unable to keep up with her yard. Because of this, her neighbors complained to the public health department. Not knowing what to do, she went to Bob Horton at UNA for help. Fortunately, he had learned about our ABWK program and referred her to us.

The efforts were fun. The MSU chapter is a great group and is always looking for someone new to help in the community. Just this semester they sponsored two wall builds on campus and countless hours on the construction site.

However, they weren’t the only ones out there. Peggy is a hard worker. I tried and tried to get her to sit down and take a break but she wanted to be a part of what was going on. It truly embodied Habitat’s mission to promote dignity through partnership.

I am excited to visit her again in the Spring. The goal is to landscape and to paint her home.

There are more people like Peggy in the neighborhood. They’ve grown older and unable to keep up with their yardwork. Many of them are cut off from their neighbors. If you know someone in the community that could use some assistance, let us know and join us in our volunteer efforts.

MSU’s Student Community Action Team comes together to paint a home

Constance Bonner is the caretaker of 5 children and found herself unemployed around a year ago. She says it has been tough not being able to work, but is glad she has the time to spend with her children during the day. Constance is doing what she can on her own and assisted with the paint job.

Housing can be expensive and it is hard to keep up with the routine maintenance, whenever you don’t have enough money for the basic necessities. Fortunately for Constance she has a mother that is working on getting the soffit and fascia repaired so she can put insurance on the home. Many of the other applicants do not have the luxury of a family that can help or cares to help.

The Student Community Action Team is a great group of volunteers. Their agency employs students to work at different non-profits in the area and every month they get together and focus their efforts on one cause. These service projects are nice but their real impact comes from their weekly service at their host agency.

The program is funded partially through financial aid and partially through MSU. I think it is a great testament to the public affairs mission when a University places its own financial support. They don’t have to, in fact they could just use the work-study students at the University but instead they send them into the community.

I started out as a SCAT member 3 years ago and now find myself employed at Habitat for Humanity. If I did not have that experience I might be another unemployed college graduate with some knowledge of theory that lacked application. MSU goes the extra step by offering this program. However, the program is great because of its student makeup. They are the kind of students that are always looking to make a difference in their community.

Thanks again! Below you will see some pictures of their efforts:

It is hard to expand services in a time of economic hardship but like our Volunteer Coordinator, Tommy Hawkins, always says, “What matters is helping that extra person, even when you can’t solve the whole problem.” And that is what Habitat aims to do with its new “A Brush with Kindness” and critical home repair programs. So far we have served 27 homes since July, 2011 and that work has ranged from repairing floor joists to painting. Some applicants need more help and we are keeping their information for when we build that team of skilled volunteers. A home repair program does not start over night. It takes support from the community and organizations like the Student Community Action Team.

Relief vs Development? What are your thoughts?

417 Mission Weekend

Ian Kayser is the Mission’s Pastor at Fellowship Bible  Church in Rogersville, MO. He is very passionate about community development and wanted to bring his congregation into northern Springfield to show them what poverty housing looks like.Over two days the congregation spent time working on community improvement by painting, clearing out debris, and landscaping. They also worked on home construction in Builders’ Circle. When asked about charity he responded by stating there were two types, relief and development. However, most fall under the second. Relief is appropriate after natural disasters, or in extreme cases of poverty, development is about helping people help themselves. The Habitat model emphasizes this by requiring the partner families to commit to “sweat equity” and financial investment. This investment is clear when the families purchase the homes through a 0% interest, no profit mortgage.Habitat for Humanity is still working out the financial requirements for “A Brush with Kindness”. Our new Executive Director, Linda Stewart, believes that it is just a matter of taking the same principles applied to Habitat’s homeownership program and scaling it down.It all goes back to Ian’s separation of relief and development as two types of charity. Community Development often involves requiring something of the community itself. If you give something away, sometimes it becomes an “entitlement” in the future. What are your thoughts on development and relief? A new emphasis on neighborhood revitalization requires a new look at success measures and what works in the community. Foundations and donors want to see that their money is having an impact and it is our job at Habitat to be good stewards of their resources. The same thing applies to volunteer labor. When you volunteer do you like to see the person who is being helped work alongside you? (Pending they are able) We want our volunteers to have a good time and not feel used. Please let us know what you think so we know how to represent our supporters.

Finishing “A Day of Caring”

Habitat for Humanity of Springfield, MO has established an effective partnership with Caring Communities, a sub-group of Community Partnership of the Ozarks. Both of our organizations are focusing on the Weller Neighborhood over an 18 month period. Katie Scott, Neighborhood Improvement Project Coordinator for Community Partnership of the Ozarks, has been identifying blocks in Weller and providing the social work needed for the families. The overall goal is to tackle every block in Weller. We started with two streets on “Day of Caring” and had to finish a couple of the homes this last weekend. Here are a couple pictures of our MSU chapter staining a deck and of Evangel’s Girls Baskeball Team painting some homes.

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Our next block project is scheduled in conjunction with Fellowship Church’s 417 Mission Weekend. Ian Kayser, Missions Pastor, wants to show his Rogersville congregations what poverty looks like in Northern Springfield. They will focus on a strip of Blaine Avenue that runs between Glenstone and National.

Habitat for Humanity installs a door to help someone in need

On September 14^th, Mike Smith installed a new door for a family in need. It was an enjoyable project and I was lucky that he let me tag along. I am not exactly “mister fixit” but as time goes by, I am slowly learning new skills. That is what I love about working at Habitat, that sense of accomplishment of knowing you helped someone in need while also helping yourself learn something new. If you have ever wanted to learn how to work on your own house but were afraid to try it on your own, contact Tommy Hawkins at 417-829-4001 or you can send him an email at tommyhawkins@habitatspringfieldmo.org. He will get you set up to either work on an “A Brush with Kindness” project, out on the construction site or in our ReStore.

The family, we helped the other day, lives in the Grant Beach Neighborhood. They do not make a lot of money and their child suffers from some
medical conditions. It is hard enough to make minor repairs to your home as they come up but when you have medical bills it becomes even less likely that you will have that extra money.

Fortunately for her, the City of Springfield had been providing emergency home repair loans for those in need of service. The financing is based on the equity of the home and all expenditures are placed as a lien on the home to be paid back upon sale. The applicant never pays on the loan unless they sell it. If it gets sold or passed on after death, the money then goes back to the city to help more families in need. The program has since moved to the Weller Neighborhood.

Like most social programs, it did not meet all of the needs of the family so the city contacted us and we were able to install a new door. The city had replaced some windows and made roof repairs. Since our program is new, these collaborations are important. We have a small construction staff and it is hard to tackle new builds and home repairs at the same time. As time progresses we are sure that we will accumulate a number of skilled volunteers that will help us meet the service gap.

It is our first year with the program and we feel that it has had a great start. Since July we have tackled 16 projects. Most have been minor repairs, painting and debris removal. With help from the community we are confident that we will be able to expand our critical home repair program
to take on bigger issues. The Ozarks are known for hospitality and we have alot of non-profits in our community. We know this just shows how much we like to help our neighbors in need. If you give us a place to volunteer, then we will come. We have provided the program and are now waiting on it to grow.

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