Hope. Empowerment. Opportunity.
These ideals are wrapped up in the core American aspiration of home ownership. For 40 years, Habitat for Humanity of Greenville County has helped hundreds of individuals and families make that aspiration a reality.
That core mission remains unchanged, but new challenges have combined with existing obstacles to make Habitat’s work more crucial than ever, according to President and CEO LaTonya Phillips.
Chasing the dream
When a small group of community leaders began organizing a Habitat for Humanity chapter in Greenville County in 1985, the nonprofit’s work was not widely known.
What was known was that there were systemic barriers and other circumstances that thwarted the dreams of many to own their own homes. As Phillips explained, Habitat’s mission has always been about empowering people who have the dream of homeownership to achieve that goal.
“It is still working along that same path,” she said. “Bringing people together — volunteers, corporate sponsors, community, staff, families — for a real dream that they never thought could be a reality.”
Far surpassing the initial goal of building one home a year, Habitat and its network of Greenville support have since built more than 400 homes and renovated another 330. That represents more than 230,000 volunteer hours and demonstrates how the nonprofit has become one of Greenville’s mainstays in advancing homeownership and housing affordability.
But with that success has come new challenges. The region’s growth in recent years has put tremendous upward pressure on housing costs, exacerbating existing barriers and increasing the number of people — and income brackets — experiencing emotional and financial strain.
Phillips said the higher costs have the greatest impact on families with the least financial resources, which formed the core of Habitat’s traditional clients. Seniors and retirees on fixed incomes, young families trying to break out of the cycle of generational poverty, and others who may lack the knowledge or skills to pursue homeownership are still the main source of applicants seeking Habitat’s help.
But Phillips said Habitat is starting to see impacts on families that 10 or 20 years ago would have been considered prosperous but are now facing the dispiriting prospect of housing insecurity.
For instance, she said a family making about $70,000 a year with three kids could now find itself needing the help of Habitat for Humanity due to Greenville’s market conditions and other circumstances beyond the family’s control.
She said the increasing need makes Habitat’s mission more important than ever. Having a safe place to live, the stability of a home where your children can make friends in the neighborhood, and where they can invite those friends to celebrate birthdays and holidays makes for stronger communities.
“Not everyone will have the opportunity to make investments and purchase stocks and bonds and all that,” Phillips said. “But if you get a house, if you own a house, you have a little piece of this big world we live in. It’s a stake in our world. It’s a stake in the community.”
New paths to the same dream
Because of those challenges to the dream of homeownership and the new numbers of people finding that dream elusive, Phillips said the organization is considering new ideas to overcome those challenges.
Part of the adjustment is understanding a generational shift in what homeownership looks like, she said. Increasing numbers of people, from young families to retirees, no longer dream of a big house with a big yard and all the upkeep that entails.
Instead, tiny homes and townhomes have increasing appeal, not only for lower maintenance requirements but also for relative affordability. For that reason, Phillips said Habitat will undertake its first “townplex” project next year with a pair of attached townhomes.
She said Habitat is also looking at tiny home and modular home projects to assess whether those options can meet the growing demand.
The other big challenge in a high-growth market like Greenville is land availability and affordability. Paying the going market rate for developable land is a challenge for a nonprofit like Habitat. Phillips said her team is approaching major residential developers in the market to explore opportunities to acquire land those developers are unable to use, for whatever reason, for future Habitat projects.
Phillips said while Habitat’s tried and true methods continue to work, new challenges require new approaches.
“Because it’s the same basic goal … to get someone in a home that they can come to every night, that they’re not priced out, that they can build some equity and begin to generate wealth,” she said. “So if you can build generational wealth while living in something that is more accommodating to their lifestyle, why not?”
Habitat for Humanity of Greenville County through the years
- 1985: Greenville chapter of Habitat for Humanity formed in September.
- 1986: First Habitat Greenville house built in Poe Mill community.
- 1988: Work begins on three houses in West Greenville. The average cost is about $20,000.
- 1992: Habitat purchases 13 acres in Sans Souci with goal of building 50 houses.
- 1998: 73-lot Saluda Bluffs, Habitat’s largest subdivision to date, is launched.
- 2000: Habitat Greenville has three standard home designs. The average build cost is $36,000.
- 2005: By 20th anniversary, Habitat Greenville has built 192 homes.
- 2011: Habitat organizes its first CEO Build.
- 2015: Habitat builds 330th home by 30th anniversary.
- 2023: Habitat’s 400th home is dedicated in Nicholtown’s Heritage Hills neighborhood.
