Organizations Collaborate With Habitat In First Step Toward Future Builds
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Staff Report-
The organizations have helped Habitat secure the property at 805 E. Market St., Warsaw, for a future home build.
This property was identified by the Kosciusko Leadership Academy 2013 Northenor Award winning project team of Christon Clark, Kristine Hueber-Kinney, Huntter Randall and Rebecca Spitler in their project, “Rethinking Neighborhood within the Community.”
It was the suggestion of Dr. John Boal. former Winona Lake Town Council president, to engage the Kosciusko County Community Foundation and K21 Health Foundation collaboratively for the purchase of the property. MutualBank owned the property and reduced the purchase price by taking a sizable donation.
The former New Moves Physical Therapy building will be torn down over the winter to make way for construction of multiple dwellings in spring and summer 2014.
Historically, this parcel of just more than an acre was zoned and divided into six residential lots. Habitat is currently engaging local focus groups to help determine what exactly will be built on the site.
This year’s Women Build project offers a glimpse at how Habitat is attempting to enhance the lives of its “Partner Families” and the surrounding block by building homes that are not only simple, decent and affordable, but desirable, accessible and sustainable as well.
“At the heart of the KLA project was a mixed income mini development. This is a model Habitat is committed to on this site with the goal to create a stronger sense of community not only for our partner families but for the surrounding residents and the City of Warsaw as well,” said Clark, Habitat executive director.
Kosciusko County Community Foundation approved $21,500 worth of grants in July to be used toward the purchase of the property.
“The Community Foundation is excited to help Habitat provide affordable housing in such an innovative and collaborative manner,” said Suzie Light, Kosciusko County Community Foundation executive director.
Rich Haddad, K21 president and CEO, also supports the project.
“K21 was excited to become a part of this project because of the overwhelming statistics that show homeownership benefitting long-term health and wellness over those who rent, particularly when we learned that all of the Habitat homes built in Kosciusko County are still owned by the original families,” Haddad said.
Habitat provided detailed findings on how homeownership leads to better health outcomes for families in its $38,500 grant application with K21 Health Foundation.
The closing of this property brings to an end more than nine months of negotiations between Habitat and MutualBank.
“We were lucky that the property owner has a long history of working with Habitat affiliates and was excited by the opportunity put before them. The reduced purchase price will allow Habitat to keep the resulting homes affordable for lower income families. Jim Ryan was instrumental in making this deal happen,” according to Clark.
Jim Ryan, MutualBank business banking officer vice president, also provided comments on the project.
“As a Warsaw community bank, MutualBank is thrilled to have played an integral role in this important Habitat project,” Ryan said.
As Habitat moves forward with this project the goal remains collaboration. Currently, neighborhood and house sponsors are being sought that will work together to bring the vision of the KLA project and the focus groups to reality.
To finish the project requires in the neighborhood of $450,000 of further local investment and approximately 1,200 volunteers to construct the dwellings.
As at least four of the homes are built and sold to Partner Families, the mortgage payments those families make over the next 20 to 25 years will help build more Habitat houses in the county.
Habitat accepts applications on a rolling basis with three main criteria: families must have a need; families must have the ability to repay (Habitat can only approve families between 30 percent and 60 percent of area median income); and families must be willing to partner with Habitat, 250 hours of sweat equity per able bodied adult in addition to financial literacy and homeownership education.
Due to the size and scope of this project, Habitat is suspending the Critical Home Repair program.
For information on Habitat criteria and the pre-qualification process, visit www.kosciuskohabitat.com/homeownership[[In-content Ad]]
The organizations have helped Habitat secure the property at 805 E. Market St., Warsaw, for a future home build.
This property was identified by the Kosciusko Leadership Academy 2013 Northenor Award winning project team of Christon Clark, Kristine Hueber-Kinney, Huntter Randall and Rebecca Spitler in their project, “Rethinking Neighborhood within the Community.”
It was the suggestion of Dr. John Boal. former Winona Lake Town Council president, to engage the Kosciusko County Community Foundation and K21 Health Foundation collaboratively for the purchase of the property. MutualBank owned the property and reduced the purchase price by taking a sizable donation.
The former New Moves Physical Therapy building will be torn down over the winter to make way for construction of multiple dwellings in spring and summer 2014.
Historically, this parcel of just more than an acre was zoned and divided into six residential lots. Habitat is currently engaging local focus groups to help determine what exactly will be built on the site.
This year’s Women Build project offers a glimpse at how Habitat is attempting to enhance the lives of its “Partner Families” and the surrounding block by building homes that are not only simple, decent and affordable, but desirable, accessible and sustainable as well.
“At the heart of the KLA project was a mixed income mini development. This is a model Habitat is committed to on this site with the goal to create a stronger sense of community not only for our partner families but for the surrounding residents and the City of Warsaw as well,” said Clark, Habitat executive director.
Kosciusko County Community Foundation approved $21,500 worth of grants in July to be used toward the purchase of the property.
“The Community Foundation is excited to help Habitat provide affordable housing in such an innovative and collaborative manner,” said Suzie Light, Kosciusko County Community Foundation executive director.
Rich Haddad, K21 president and CEO, also supports the project.
“K21 was excited to become a part of this project because of the overwhelming statistics that show homeownership benefitting long-term health and wellness over those who rent, particularly when we learned that all of the Habitat homes built in Kosciusko County are still owned by the original families,” Haddad said.
Habitat provided detailed findings on how homeownership leads to better health outcomes for families in its $38,500 grant application with K21 Health Foundation.
The closing of this property brings to an end more than nine months of negotiations between Habitat and MutualBank.
“We were lucky that the property owner has a long history of working with Habitat affiliates and was excited by the opportunity put before them. The reduced purchase price will allow Habitat to keep the resulting homes affordable for lower income families. Jim Ryan was instrumental in making this deal happen,” according to Clark.
Jim Ryan, MutualBank business banking officer vice president, also provided comments on the project.
“As a Warsaw community bank, MutualBank is thrilled to have played an integral role in this important Habitat project,” Ryan said.
As Habitat moves forward with this project the goal remains collaboration. Currently, neighborhood and house sponsors are being sought that will work together to bring the vision of the KLA project and the focus groups to reality.
To finish the project requires in the neighborhood of $450,000 of further local investment and approximately 1,200 volunteers to construct the dwellings.
As at least four of the homes are built and sold to Partner Families, the mortgage payments those families make over the next 20 to 25 years will help build more Habitat houses in the county.
Habitat accepts applications on a rolling basis with three main criteria: families must have a need; families must have the ability to repay (Habitat can only approve families between 30 percent and 60 percent of area median income); and families must be willing to partner with Habitat, 250 hours of sweat equity per able bodied adult in addition to financial literacy and homeownership education.
Due to the size and scope of this project, Habitat is suspending the Critical Home Repair program.
For information on Habitat criteria and the pre-qualification process, visit www.kosciuskohabitat.com/homeownership[[In-content Ad]]
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092