Habitat World Online


Because Habitat houses are built with donated materials and volunteer labor, they typically appraise for more than actual cost. Consequently, they often increase property values in a neighborhood.

Putting Fears to Rest
Habitat affiliates find that communication and persistence are key solutions to neighborhood opposition.

by Rebekah Daniel

Studies Suggest Misconceptions Surrounding NIMBY

Learning the Lingo

About six years ago, a local Habitat supporter willed a piece of property to HFH of New Castle County (Del.). Lacking experience in the Not-In-My-Back-Yard syndrome, the affiliate forged ahead with plans to build, beginning by participating in the first rezoning meeting. To affiliate leaders' surprise, several neighbors attended the meeting to oppose the plan. They said they had long dreamed of creating a community garden on the prospective build site and, consequently, did not welcome Habitat houses there. To compromise with the neighbors and allow room for the garden, the affiliate agreed to build three houses instead of the four the space would accommodate.

"It educated us on the importance of working with the community," executive director Kevin Smith says. "On the ministry side, [we were] interacting with people and being confronted with hard things and having to work things out."

The affiliate tried a more communicative approach a few years later when a county municipality offered land for two houses.

"We tried to do the prudent thing after learning from the first experience and contacted what we thought was the community organization," Smith says.

It was, but it wasn't the only one. The affiliate discovered that while the community organization was agreeable to the prospect of Habitat activity, the street on which the lots were located had its own organization--one that resisted any plan to construct Habitat houses there. Thirty angry people attended a meeting of the street's residents, opposed to the plans to build in their midst. After much discussion, the affiliate built one house.

'We're trying to be an empowerment ministry, not just for family, but also for the community we're building in.'

The affiliate found that a grassroots approach would be essential to winning the hearts of the neighbors.

Thus it was with a sense of déjà vu that the affiliate encountered resistance to a recent project. In 2002, a city in the county distributed vacant lots based on proposals for development, and Habitat received enough land for several houses. Once again, a neighbor objected on grounds that a community garden was planned for that land. The affiliate offered to donate some of the land back for the garden if the community would sign a memorandum of understanding outlining who would be responsible for maintaining the property. The community organization missed the deadline for signing the memorandum, and the affiliate moved forward in May with plans to begin construction on five of 10 eventual houses.

The challenges have been frustrating, especially since, as Smith explains, the objections to Habitat cited by neighbors are sometimes "window dressings" for other issues such as fear of cultural, financial or racial change. Respecting those concerns, however, goes a long way in sustaining productive dialogue with hesitant neighbors, as does making sure they have the opportunity to get to know Habitat's best ambassadors, the homeowners themselves.

"We just try to honor who [the neighbors] are and what they represent in the community," Smith says. "We're trying to be an empowerment ministry, not just for thefamily, but also for the community we're building in."

Lisa Hartley, executive director of Bergen County HFH (N.J.), has found that establishing clear lines of communication is a key component in building support for Habitat. The affiliate was well into the process of planning to build several houses on a dead-end street before it heard opposition from the surrounding community.

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