Already priced out of reach for many working families, building supplies have skyrocketed in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Home Groan (continued)

Another option affiliates are vigorously pursuing is piggybacking with developers, a ride that has become significantly easier as more and more municipalities pass ordinances requiring developers' projects to include a certain percentage of affordable units.

A developer gave Habitat for Humanity in Roaring Fork Valley (Carbondale, Colo.) a duplex lot that will enable two housing units for low-income families in Cleveland Place subdivision, for example.

In Cleveland Place, the developer plans to build 11 single-family homes, plus 20 attached duplex units. According to the plan, initial home prices will range from the low $200,000s to $300,000. The Habitat duplex units likely will sell for about $90,000 each with an interest-free mortgage to qualified families earning between $18,500 and $32,000 a year. The monthly mortgage for each home is calculated at about $375.

"It is a good fit," says developer Tom Neel. "We get to satisfy the requirements and help out the local Habitat affiliate."

In pricey Charlottesville, Va., a group of developers doing business as The Collaboration agreed in a landswap deal with the city to sell two lots to the local Habitat affiliate. The lots were priced at $13,000 each-far below the $60,000 market value.

These city elders, as well, "want developers to include some affordable units whenever they develop new housing," says Overton McGehee, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville. "This property sets an example that people are willing to buy a $300,000 home next door to a Habitat house that is worth only half as much."

In Corazon del Pueblo, for another example, a 393-home community under construction in Tucson, volunteers recently completed the development's first Habitat home. It will serve as a model home to assuage the fears of prospective buyers about Habitat homes' ability to blend in with market-priced structures. Eventually, about 60 homes in Corazon del Pueblo will be built by Habitat volunteers.

There are many other examples of the trend. Twin Oaks, for example, where the Madison, Wis., affiliate is working with a local developer on a mixed-income neighborhood; 50 percent of the units will be sold at market rate and 50 percent within the realm of Habitat partner families. "Twin Oaks is a great example of inclusionary zoning at its best and should encourage us all to pursue the best possible affordable-housing policies," a local editorial writer enthused.

Brownfield development is another option affiliates are beginning to consider. And why not? According to EPA estimates, there are 450,000 such sites across the country.

Brownfields--generally abandoned factories, warehouses and businesses--are properties that are underused because of actual or perceived environmental problems. Brownfield redevelopment, especially for affordable housing, is gaining in popularity as new "regulatory tools, financing sources, insurance products and other strategies that can greatly reduce the uncertainties and costs involved" are put in place, according to Paul Stanton Kibel of the National Housing Institute.

"Many urban brownfields are being overlooked as potential housing sites not because of actual contamination but because of the fear of potential contamination," Kibel says. "Yet this potential contamination is something that can usually be identified or ruled out through proper assessment."

Several affiliates have jumped in with both feet, but none perhaps as fearlessly as Twin Cities HFH in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.

"Well, perhaps not fearlessly," says former executive director Stephen Seidel, now Urban Programs director with HFHI. "Moving into brownfield development requires thoughtfulness, caution--and some advanced technical expertise."

	Much of the lumber used in housing in the United States comes through the Port of New Orleans or is milled along the Gulf Coast. That's not good news for prospective new homeowners.

Together, Twin Cities Habitat and Minnesota Environmental Initiative obtained several grants from the state of Minnesota and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to perform thorough environmental assessments of a variety of sites with questionable environmental histories.

"It wasn't so much that we were actively seeking brownfield sites," Seidel recalls. "Rather, as building sites became harder to find, it became clear that we needed to check the environmental history of those sites that were available.

"We sure didn't want to build a bunch of homes on sites that might be harmful to the families that would be living there. So to be good stewards and partners, we needed to make sure that our building sites posed no hazards to our families or volunteers."

Twin Cities Habitat and MEI used the grants to contract with Braun Intertec, a leading environmental engineering firm. Specialists from Braun conducted Phase One environmental studies (reviews of public records of the prior uses of the sites) and Phase Two testing, including on-site examination and testing the soil for contaminants. Braun then provided guidance as to whether homes should be built at the sites and recommendations for any corrective action needed to bring them to acceptable standards.

During this three-year partnership, approximately two dozen sites were examined. As a result, enough sites were assembled and prepared to accommodate more than 50 homes.

"Thanks to this partnership, we were able to acquire more sites and build many more homes than we would have otherwise," Seidel says. "More importantly, we were able to proceed with confidence that the homes built on those sites would not pose a health threat to our volunteers, and especially to the families who will be calling those locations home."

Based on this successful collaboration, the EPA provided additional financial support to other U.S. affiliates to pursue brownfield-site testing, among them Charlotte, N.C., Denver, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

Affiliates are looking in all directions in their effort to continue building affordable houses in a market where "affordable" is in danger of losing all meaning. New Hope Construction Inc., a nonprofit Habitat partner that supplies pre-framed house packages that include all the interior and exterior materials needed to build a house from the sill plate up, is seeing an increased interest in its product, for instance.

The more things change...

There are still, of course, many parts of the country that bear little resemblance to, say, San Diego, where only 10 percent of households can now afford a median-priced home ($595,000), and Habitat's inspiration to build hope one house at a time remains unchanged where such builds remain feasible.

The Shelby County, Ind., affiliate, for example, was able to build a house at the end of last year that was only eight percent more costly than the one it built in 2001, according to executive director Jack Tandy. The second partner family's mortgage payment was only $50 a month more expensive.

"I believe the focus of your story idea is that material costs have risen over time," Tandy said in an e-mail when we contacted him for this story, "and therefore donations need to increase to keep up with rising costs. This premise is one I certainly agree with."

That is the challenge. "Our future depends on being creative, seizing opportunities and not having a rigid notion of how a Habitat house should look," insists Dorothy Bullitt, executive director of the Seattle/South King County affiliate.

The real estate market is changing on a near-daily basis; Habitat is not. Donors have always been critical to its goal of eliminating poverty housing, but never, perhaps, more than now.

Financial support may be in the form of annual contributions, one-time donations, stock gifts, matching gifts and planned giving. Many employers have matching dollars for volunteer hours or will earmark United Way payroll deductions to Habitat for Humanity. Donations of land upon which to build are becoming increasingly precious as prices for building lots continue to escalate.