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Colorado’s Blue Spruce Habitat takes advantage of county grants to pursue construction opportunities on lots that would be unprofitable for other builders and builds duplexes whenever geography and zoning requirements allow.
Finding a place to put a Habitat house can be the most challenging part of construction.
by Rebekah Daniel
A variety of reactions are possible in the pursuit of a vision that faces frustratingly few alternatives:
“When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!”
“When you’re at the end of your rope, tie a knot and swing!”
Or, in Madison, Wis., it’s called “buy a large parcel of land and build Twin Oaks subdivision.”
As then-executive director Brian Miller explains, by 2002, the board of directors of Dane County Habitat for Humanity had run into a capacity problem with procuring in-fill construction sites. There were plenty of volunteers ready and willing to work, but finding and buying single-family lots at $40,000-$70,000 each was slowing things down.
Two parcels of land totaling 40 acres on the outskirts of Madison came up for sale, and according to Miller, the board saw an opportunity. “It was a four-house-a-year affiliate with a big vision that took a big gulp and went for it,” he says.
At the other end of the country, Habitat for Humanity of Collier County, Fla., was taking a big gulp of its own. Property values were rising 30 percent to 40 percent per year, and lots that had been for sale for $1,000 a few years before were selling for $30,000 or $40,000. “We bought up a couple of large parcels of land at a decent price,” says Nick Kouloheras, director of land development and construction.“It was more than we wanted to pay, but we knew they were going up.”
Habitat affiliates in every region of the United States today encounter similar challenges. The reasons for the difficulty in acquiring affordable, well-located lots for building houses are myriad: zoning restrictions, competition from other builders or commercial interests, rising impact fees, property tax considerations, wildlife mitigation protocols and the “not-in-my-back-yard” resistance to affordable housing, to name a few. Yet, with a mixture of creativity, audacity and flexibility, Habitat is finding ways to build. “At the end of the day, if you stay focused on the mission and goal at hand, you can address the problems,” Kouloheras says.
TAKING A RISK
The dream that became Dane County’s Twin Oaks subdivision actually began to take shape years before the affiliate ever purchased the land. Habitat founder Millard Fuller was in Madison in 1999 to give a speech, and while there he persuaded the board chair and mayor to come up with a vision statement. Although nothing happened immediately, a seed was planted, and when a 30-acre parcel and 10-acre parcel in the same area became available, the Dane County board was ready to act.
Piecing together a combination of government grants and bank loans, the board purchased the 40 acres for $1.1 million. Putting in streets, sewers, sidewalks and lighting cost another $3 million. Recognizing its lack of experience in real estate development, the board relied on a cadre of pro-bono professionals — attorneys, engineers and business thinkers — to guide them along the way, Miller says.
After the site improvements, the affiliate found itself the proud owner of enough space for 142 total dwelling units, with 50 townhouse-style condo spaces and 92 single-family lots. Due to favorable market conditions, selling some of the lots that the affiliate did not have the capacity to build on relatively quickly seemed wise. They kept 50 single-family lots — a reservoir that would enable them to build 10 houses per year for five years — and put the rest up for sale for $45,000-$65,000 per lot.
“Our timing was really good,” Miller says. “If this were right now, it would be scary to have $4 million in dirt. … [But the buyers] felt they were getting a good bargain. The streets are connected in three or four different places to new subdivisions built by Wisconsin’s largest home builder. To be sandwiched in between two of their subdivisions meant our subdivision wasn’t isolated. You really can’t tell which ones are the Habitat houses.”
By virtue of the diversity of buyers for the lots — some 20 individuals, forprofit builders and nonprofit organizations opted to become part of the neighborhood — Twin Oaks ended up becoming a mixed-income development. Today, Twin Oaks has become a sort of poster child for integrated affordable housing. The Habitat houses are distributed through the subdivision, with no three Habitat houses adjacent. A homeowners association helps manage common parks and wetlands, and the affiliate has benefited from the development expertise, larger visibility and wider platform for advocacy gained from the experience.
Habitat construction in Twin Oaks will be completed this year, and Habitat Dane County has devised a multi-pronged approach to procuring buildable lots in the future to take advantage of increased capacity, says development director Peggy Halloran. “We recently launched an Urban Neighborhoods Initiative and are actively seeking properties in Madison neighborhoods that have fallen into disrepair that we can rehab or build new condos,” she says. “This will allow us to serve families at even lower economic levels than currently served. We have a staff member who oversees land acquisition with the help of a volunteer committee and approval from our board, and HFHDC also has several satellite groups that help us identify potential properties in other parts of our county where we will continue to build multi- and single-family homes.”
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