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Habitat International
Habitat for Humanity Whitley County began in the early 1990s when members of St. Paul of the Crosses' Social Justice Committee saw the need for affordable housing in Whitley County. The group applied for affiliate status with Habitat for Humanity International, a organization rooted in Americus, Georgia working on a "revolving fund" concept where partner families purchase their Habitat home through no-profit, zero-interest mortgages paid to Habitat for Humanity which in turn, with donations and volunteer labor help to fund future Habitat homes. Whitley County was approved in 1994 and began its work as a Habitat for Humanity affiliate.
The organization's first couple of years, were spent establishing the program, creating an all-volunteer board of directors, finding the funds for HFHWC to build its first home and making repairs on existing homes for families unable to afford to make those repairs on their own.
In 1995, with the aid of a $25,000 Dekko Foundation grant HFHWC had the opportunity to purchase a tract of land suitable for future builds. On August 17, 1996, HFHWC broke ground at 519 Towerview Drive, for its first Habitat home, the making its presence in the community official. On November 30, 1997, the home was dedicated to Shannon Benson and her two young children.
Habitat Whitley struggled through the next few years as an all volunteer organization. Several of the founding Board members left due to burn out, family needs, or career changes. The organization nearly folded in late 2002. The time and resource requirements were too great for an all volunteer organization.
In early 2003 a retreat was held to discuss how to better organize the program to ensure the longevity of the organization. It was decided that the program needed to revise its business model in order to increase funding support and establish paid staffing in order to survive and grow. The board applied for a grant to fund the hiring of a Resource Director and in July 2004 Carl Siler was appointed HFHWC's resource director.
In HFHWC's 16-year history the organization has built provided housing opportunities for 25 families (20 traditional habitat builds and 5 rehabilitation projects with other partner organizations) consisting of 91 individuals, tithed over $40,000 to the International work of Habitat International and created an outreach program where countless applicants have been provided with educational and training programs on finances, home ownership and home maintenance.
Sometimes it is hard to think of there being a lack of affordable housing in Whitley County because we are not directly confronted with the effects of homelessness the way metropolitan communities are. True, you don't see people sleeping on park benches or in cardboard boxes as the stereotype implies, but in 2008 alone, 28 families applied for HFHWC housing, clearly demonstrating the need for affordable housing.
While Whitley County has abundant housing opportunities, rarely is affordability a characteristic for low-income families, due in part by the ever-widening income gap that is all but eliminating the middle-class of previous decades. With more factory and manufacturing jobs with good pay and benefits being replaced by lower paying jobs without benefits more and more families are finding themselves in this gap. In the 90s these valuable manufacturing jobs offering a living wage for Whitley County families peaked at a total of 5,351jobs by 2006 those jobs had decreased to 4,55, a loss of 796 jobs. With the current economy prompting plant closings, relocations and layoffs this gap is projected to widen further in coming years.
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