Habitat for Humanity Detroit has focused its infill housing efforts on a neighborhood called "Tri-Centennial Village."

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Relieving the burden of urban poverty presents Habitat for Humanity with both challenges and opportunities. The opportunities to build are nearly endless, given that in a city like Detroit, where 30 new homes were erected during the Jimmy Carter Work Project in June, there are 40,000 empty lots, according to Ken Bensen, executive director of Habitat for the state of Michigan. Many of those empty lots in Detroit and elsewhere are owned by the cities that they blight, cities that are often happy to provide them for a pittance--often even less.

But infill construction, much more than Habitat's fight against rural poverty outlined in Habitat World in June, demands that other partners join in, Bensen notes. "You have to get state development authorities involved, so that other houses in the community can be rehabilitated. You can't turn a neighborhood around with just a few new houses. There needs to be much more community involvement."

Rick Ballard, director of community development for Michigan's progressive Housing Development Authority, agrees. "Homeownership is a huge piece of what it takes to turn a community around," he says, "but it's not the only piece.

"In supporting projects like these," he said on the opening day of the JCWP blitz build in Benton Harbor, where 20 homes went up, "we are looking at what 'community anchors' are in place: schools, parks, infrastructure, services, jobs. Strategically, we are looking at all the community development groups that we can get involved, and especially at what causes of poverty we might be able to address. The house that Habitat builds are really a byproduct of what we are trying to do, which is to get a total neighborhood buy-in to making a community."

The buy-in in Benton Harbor is about as complete as human hands can make it, according to Mike Green, executive director of the local affiliate. Habitat played a key role in making that happen because of its accountability. There is an assurance of accountability when Habitat is on board, Green says, and having accountability encourages others to participate.

The Michigan State Housing Development Authority, Brush with Kindness, Youth Works, Citizens for Progressive Change, the Federal Home Loan Bank and HUD were all players leading up to the JCWP blitz build in June. The local affiliate hosted four community forums in the neighborhood so that existing residents and their new neighbors could press the flesh and take one another's measure.

Existing neighbors wanted--and needed--assurances that the newcomers weren't importing more drug problems into a neighborhood already plagued by an active marketplace. Newcomers wanted to see for themselves that, as Green had told them, Habitat's presence and activity had already convinced dealers that their days in this neighborhood were numbered, and that greener pastures resided elsewhere.

Those meet-and-greets were successful, but Green wanted even more with the spotlight shining so brightly on Benton Harbor.

Harbor Habitat for Humanity executive director Mike Green says Habitat's presence puts pressure on landlords.

He was intent on identifying likeminded residents of the existing community before delivering a ready-made community of new homeowners into it; he wanted the community he had envisioned on paper to supplement the existing reality. Together, they could nudge the neighborhood in the right direction.

Harbor Habitat eschewed prefabricated walls, and gathered the new homeowners for weekend wall-constructing outings in a local warehouse; they would build their own, even if it cost a little more. The result: Families engaged. They worked together. Soon, they were sitting for each other's children. They socialized. They shared the excitement of the voyage upon which they were about to embark. They became a community-in-waiting.

Quienna Spinks, homeowner with her husband O'shaee of House No. 11 built during the JCWP, says she feels the pressure of the community's expectations. But instead of wilting under observation, she's decided to be motivated.

"I'm taking that challenge personally," she says. "I feel that if we all gel together like I think we are, then we'll be able to raise some world-class children and have a world-class neighborhood. And I think that we'll be a trend-setter. We can easily come in here and tear these houses down, or we can come in and keep our grass cut, beautify. This is like a blank canvas, and whatever it becomes is what we make it."

Most importantly, the new residents built a fail-safe system, or at least the highest hopes for one. "The day I knew this was really going to work was the day I came over here and found clusters of these Habitat families walking around, scoping out the neighborhood," Green says. "The reward for doing all this work is seeing people concerned about their neighborhood, their community." And here, he notes, the concern was starting to come from both sides.

In making that happen, the JCWP got a lot of help from the City of Benton Harbor, but "municipalities have to step up," Green says frankly about in-fill projects. "We have to keep the pressure on cities to enforce the codes, especially when it comes to absentee landlords." They are not, he said, asking cities to selectively enforce codes, as some public officials have complained; just enforce the codes.

"In this neighborhood, landlords have had a free rein, charging $600 to $700 a month for these houses because there has been no competition," Green said of structures that, for the most part, should fetch their landlords a fraction as much. "We are offering competition that will drive rents down as well as encourage landlords to repair their properties."

New Habitat homeowners will be paying between $380 and $420 a month to own their own homes. If that challenges landlords, so be it, Green says; there are HUD grants and other community-assistance programs that can help them bring their properties up to snuff. Harbor Habitat is poised to help. "Very often, there is funding available that we can go after that individuals can't," Green said. He offers his hand.

"There is a synergy here now that didn't exist before," Green says. "The sky's the limit on what this neighborhood can do. The better news is, Benton Harbor is a model that can be replicated elsewhere, anywhere else where people have a passion for change."