Saginaw (MI) Habitat for Humanity will be tearing down 200 houses in Saginaw over the next two years. The New York Times calls the move a "sign of the times," noting that 800 houses in Saginaw, a city of 56,000, are empty or, as the Times put it, "doomed."
Whatever can be salvaged from the houses will be re-sold. The Times story indicated that the Saginaw affiliate has a Re-Store. These stores sell discounted sinks, doors, cabinets, and what not, and are big moneymakers for many affiliates. The Tucson (AZ) affiliate, for example, finances its administration costs through its Re-Store. San Antonio does as well. Some items from these demolished Saginaw houses will indirectly contribute to the building of new homes.
Habitat retains its over-all goal of helping poor people get into safe and decent housing, and from the dollars and sense point of view, it certainly does make sense, in cities like Saginaw, to remove "doomed' houses and, eventually, it is hoped, build a new house on that site and get a taxpayer living there.
Still, the move is a bit of a departure for Habitat. I've always thought that one of the beauties of Habitat is that it only does one thing: It builds houses. That's it. Historically, it has resisted efforts to add to that mission, such as specific anti-poverty programs other than housing, for example. What Habitat does is build houses. The mission is simple and clear. While the move to demolish abandoned houses makes good sense under the circumstances, I hope Habitat notes to itself that it has made a slight shift in its mission.
“You have to look at the mission; the mission is to make housing more affordable,” said Paul Warriner, the executive director of Saginaw’s Habitat for Humanity affiliate. “And when you think about this, that isn’t too much of a stretch.”
It should be noted that many Habitat affiliates around the country have refurbished old houses and turned them into safe and decent Habitat homes. It is not at all unusual, for example, for someone to donate an old house to a local affiliate. Affiliates, especially newer affiliates, tend to think this is a good deal, and imagine that they will be able to turn out a Habitat house for a lower cost.
It turns out not to work that way. A good portion of the time it costs just as much to refurbish a house as it does to build a new one, and the work is a whole lot messier and unpleasant. Volunteers usually don't care that much for tearing out old plaster walls and uncovering various horrors that are time-consuming and expensive to replace. In the case of Saginaw:
“A lot of these are just too big for us to use,” said Mr. (Paul) Warriner (executive director of the Saginaw Habitat affiliate), noting that there was no point in restoring a house that someone then could not afford to maintain or heat. “Some of them are not in real good areas, perhaps. And some of them are just too far gone, too dangerous.”
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