The Habitat for Humanity Dilemma

A combination of a shortage of volunteers and high construction costs has made Habitat for Humanity’s mission difficult.

With construction delays causing problems in the supply chain and the housing shortage increasing demand for construction supplies, lumber prices have increased over 300% since April 2020, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

“With all of these increasing costs, how do we continue to maintain the same quality of service that we provide to our clients without placing ourselves in a financial hardship? Those are hard questions,” said Lee Jeter, Sr., executive director of the Fuller Center for Housing of Northwest Louisiana, a Habitat for Humanity affiliate.

Habitat for Humanity has had to cancel some projects because they couldn’t afford it. Not only were construction costs too high, the shortage of volunteers meant that they had to hire contractors.

Not only is it too expensive for Habitat for Humanity to build these homes, it’s too expensive for previously approved parties to afford the houses because their finance packages did not account for the increased costs.

Through fundraising, loans, grants, stockpiles from local stores, and about $1.5 billion in contributions, the nonprofit has been able to press forward. Hopefully, with lumber prices decreasing, this nonprofit will be able to continue providing homes to those in need.

- Ashley Jorgensen

Source: AP News, Habitat for Humanity