Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Affordable Housing Builds topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Lakes Area Habitat for Humanity outlines local builds, volunteer needs and financing challenges
Summary
A Lakes Area Habitat for Humanity representative briefed the Hubbard County HRA on local housing work across four counties, current projects, volunteer and site-supervisor needs, and financing obstacles including rising construction and insurance costs and reduced USDA 502 staff capacity.
A representative of Lakes Area Habitat for Humanity told the Hubbard County HRA about the nonprofit’s local work across Crow Wing, Cass, Hubbard and Wadena counties and described current projects, volunteer needs and financing constraints.
The representative said Lakes Area Habitat has completed 133 homes since starting in 1990 and had eight houses under construction at the time of the meeting, including projects in Baxter and Cass Lake and two foundations ready for framing in Pillager and Park Rapids. “Our core program is building homes serving families in need,” the speaker said, describing a local emphasis on infill lots and houses intended for families earning about 30–60 percent of area median income. The group sets its mortgage at 25 percent of a family’s income and provides the loan at 0 percent interest, the representative said.
Members of the HRA asked about program details. On the mortgage term, the representative said Habitat generally uses 30-year terms and may use a 33-year term if a family qualifies for a USDA 502 direct loan. On house design, the representative said Habitat uses repeatable floor plans to keep costs and volunteer training consistent and that recent energy-efficiency tests showed unusually low air-exchange rates on finished houses.
The Habitat representative described barriers to expanding service: construction costs have increased substantially in recent years, insurance-premium increases have raised homeowners’ escrow payments, and state and federal program staffing limits have reduced near-term availability of USDA 502 direct loans. “We just heard word yesterday that the USDA Minnesota staff was, as part of the larger cuts, extremely reduced in staff… they said don't even try to have somebody apply for 18 to 24 months,” the speaker said.
The representative asked for local help identifying a family for a three-bedroom house on Timber Drive, a site supervisor for the build, volunteers and potential local funding or property assistance. Board members suggested local partnerships (one member named Hard Hat Ministries) and discussed using tax-forfeited lots or small cities grants to acquire and clear lots for infill building. The representative said the group would consider applying to the Federal Home Loan Bank next year and noted they were collaborating with two partners on a combined FHLB application.
Ending: The representative thanked the board and asked the HRA to circulate contact information and potential volunteer or site-supervisor leads; board members offered local contacts and suggested exploring tax-forfeited lots and small-cities grant opportunities.
