Gulf Coast affiliates struggle to acquire the land they need.
by Shala Carlson
As the wind and water of the hurricanes receded from Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, Habitat began assessing needs--and looking for land. Conversations along the coast centered on the same point: There were too many people in need of decent housing before. There are even more now.
"Many of these affiliates have a history of producing a single-digit number of houses per year, and now we're asking them to produce 20 times that many," says Bob Weaver, OHD land acquisition manager. Land has been given to Habitat to help accommodate this kind of growth. "There are occasional donations," Weaver says, "but not nearly in the numbers we need."
Affiliates stare at a storm-tossed market. Many municipalities started from scratch with fewer workers than before, slowing down zoning and permitting processes. Buildable locations remained uncertain as FEMA redid elevation and flood plain maps. Services of surveyors and other land-acquisition professionals became harder to acquire.
Property prices also have risen. OHD associate director of field operations Kent Adcock estimates that supply-and-demand concerns have increased prices by as much as 35 percent. "We've had to move slowly, but we are making some headway," Adcock says. "With land prices elevated, our affordable index is considerably strained."
In Slidell, La., a hard-hit community just outside of New Orleans, East St. Tammany Habitat for Humanity executive director Nancy Wood describes land procurement as "agonizing," although progress has been made. The affiliate has purchased smaller pieces of property, since larger tracts in the area require wetlands research, which can take up to seven months in the wake of the storm. Wood also has worked with the city to identify owners who want to sell land; local government also has donated property. "Once we reach a certain point, it's going to be difficult to buy lots," she says, citing Slidell's post-Katrina population increase of nearly 60,000, many of whom were displaced from the neighboring metro area.
Ginette Evans heads up the Calcasieu affiliate in Lake Charles, La. While Calcasieu has received property donations since Rita, Evans has met with her state representative to discuss streamlining the purchase of adjudicated properties. "The need here is so great. And I think it's just going to explode exponentially," she says, anticipating the time when families will need to vacate FEMA trailers and temporary housing.
To begin addressing this still-growing need, the Mobile, Ala., affiliate purchased four tracts of land to supplement a handful of donated lots; 2005 represents the first year the affiliate has paid for property. To maximize acreage, staff has identified a decentralized septic system that significantly increases buildable area.
In Thibodaux, La., the Bayou Area affiliate--with the help of OHD--purchased a subdivision from a developer who sold them the land below market value. "I never thought that we were going to be able to build a community," says executive director Jeanne Autin. "Now, all I want to do is build communities."
To do so, Autin--and her Gulf Coast peers - will have to acquire land in a manner that preserves affordability for partner families. And so affiliates hope for more land donations--and in their absence, the continued resources to purchase the properties they need. "I think the expectation is that we are going to have a land cost that we are simply going to have to deal with," Weaver says.
