Two Habitat for Humanity projects benefit from ARPA funds
Jul. 23—St. Joseph Habitat for Humanity was the recipient of $425,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds which were distributed by Buchanan County, and the money will go toward two big projects.
The first is the agency's "bread and butter," building a new housing complex at 1500 E. Highland Ave., and the second is a distribution/learning center that will be located behind its ReStore at 3131 Frederick Ave.
Buchanan County Presiding Commissioner Lee Sawyer and Eastern District Commissioner Scott Burnham voted to approve the project. Western District Commissioner Ron Hook abstained as he is on Habitat's board of directors.
"They have a ... tract of land that they want to build seven homes on and so part of this money would be able to go to the sewer infrastructure," Sawyer said. "Infrastructure is one of the key components of the ARPA."
The development will be called Mahaffy Valley, named after Don and Sara Mahaffy. The couple is credited by Habitat with starting local representation of the organization, according to Habitat Executive Director Shea Homeyer.
"Low-income families typically cannot afford the maintenance and upkeep of a septic system, so being directly on the sewer, not only does it bring in funds to the city for sewer funds, but it also helps with taxpayer dollars," Homeyer said. "Once the project is over, we are going to be able to hand that sewer line back over to the city for them to manage, and hopefully the area here will want to hook on to be a part of the actual city sewer system as well."
The distribution center will allow Habitat to have more space for storage, which was needed during the disaster response to flooding around Contrary Creek in 2020.
Homeyer is an administrator with FEMA and was on Habitat's board at the time of the July 2020 flood.
"Other larger Habitat (offices) save on construction projects because they have a place to store things ... that was evident with the South Side flooding when Habitat was able to garner all kinds of free donations, but we had nowhere to store them," Homeyer said. "The thought process of people here is that we help two to three families a year, where actually our impact is greater in the community, and that is our focus for the next five years is to be more of an impact to more people in our community."
Tim Osborn is the director of operations at Habitat. He said the new distribution center would be open for use with other nonprofits and even potentially individuals who offer large donations.
He also said construction on the homes will save costs and be more efficient since they are all located in the same area.
"Seven houses in one area for us means our construction costs are mitigated by being able to keep materials in this area," Osborn said.
The homes will receive $275,000 and the distribution center $150,000 from the county's ARPA funds. However, Habitat said additional funds will be needed to complete the projects.
"We rely solely on our volunteers and donations in the community, so we are kicking off our annual event Oct. 6 at Timber Creek," Homeyer said. "We're going to do what Habitat does best, and we're always cost-effective. We always find a way and we make it happen."
The distribution center will be located in the back parking lot behind the Restore.
To donate to the local Habitat for Humanity, go to stjoehabitat.org.
Ryan Hennessy can be reached at ryan.hennessy@newspressnow.com. Follow him on twitter: @NPNowHennessy.
