Habitat for Humanity celebrating twenty years of building homes

By BETHANY ROLFSON

The Western News

Twenty years ago last month, the Kootenai Valley Partners Habitat for Humanity dedicated their first home in South Lincoln County.

After volunteers put in hundreds of hours to construct the home, the Troy home was officially dedicated at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 23, 1996.

The non-profit organization looked for three requirements during the selection process. First, the family had a housing need and had an annual income between $10,000 and $17,000 with the ability to make the estimated $200-$500 monthly payments. Second, the family agreed to partner with the organization and gave 500 hours of “sweat equity” on their home prior to possession. The family was also required to take classes to help ease the transition from renter to homeowner.

Next year, Habitat will dedicate a home in the summer. With the deadline for applications passed in November, and the Family Selection Committee is scheduled to make a decision in January. They will start construction in the spring.

They still have roughly the same requirements listed above, with small increases to income and rent. While the organization doesn’t discriminate based on where the family’s income comes from, the family needs to have an adequate income to make payments. The income requirement is based on family size and they must be in a situation where they can’t go to the bank.

Sometimes the selection committee comes down to two families, during which the committee looks at which of the two families is living in the more dangerous conditions.

“We had one home owner who, when the selection committee came to visit, she told them, ‘just don’t step where the rugs are,’ because they were covering the holes in the floor,” Susie Rice said.

Rice has been a part of the Kootenai Valley Partners since their very first meeting in 1991 and has been on the board for the last nine years.

In the odd years, Habitat builds the houses, and in the even years they do fundraisers. This summer, they did “A Brush with Kindness” during which they help with home repairs for low-income people in the community.

In 1995, they started the Scenic Tour of the Kootenai River (STOKR), a fundraiser that they still hold annually. According to Rice, this year the fundraiser has around 360 volunteers that help put it on with 475 people who register and they still turn away 132.

The money from the house payments also go into the organization’s savings account, and they receive donations from individuals and local churches.

Last year and next year, the organization will also be helped out by Care-A-Vanners, a group of volunteers in RVs that travel around the country during their vacation time and help local Habitat for Humanity affiliates with their housing projects.

Last winter, the family from the first house they dedicated paid off their home.

Bethany Rolfson is a reporter at The Western News and can be reached at 293-4124, or by email at reporter@thewesternnews.com.