The following is a report from The Elkhart Truth.
Habitat for Humanity of Elkhart County is breaking ground on a 15-unit neighborhood as it accelerates its homebuilding efforts to meet the need of area families.
The organization is embarking on a multi-home construction project on Homer Avenue at Elkhart’s south end. Habitat has acquired close to 6 acres and expanded on its original plans of building 10 homes.
A partnership with manufacturing firm Lippert is expected to speed up the project. Habitat President Greg Conrad said it’s a partnership that goes back years.
“We are ready, with the support of Lippert, to start the brand new subdivision here for 15 families, 15 working families,” he said during the groundbreaking Tuesday. “Lippert’s support is measured in years. Decades. It’s not just been the financial perspective. I would want to make sure that I also acknowledge the fact that they have donated materials to every house. They have stepped up when it comes to tangible things.”
The recreation and transportation parts maker has also lead the community in contributing volunteer hours to Habitat builds, according to Conrad. Lippert employees have raised walls, hung siding and helped put the finishing touches on many Habitat homes over the years.
“Habitat would not be where it is today if it was not for (CEO) Jason (Lippert) and the entire Lippert team stepping up with literally hundreds, if not thousands, of volunteers over the past several years,” Conrad said. “More than that is the hundreds of people that are in houses because of Lippert and others’ support.”
Lippert said thousands of employees have given a million hours of service since the company started to emphasize community involvement eight years ago.
“In the last 30 years, the biggest thing I learned in business, being a business leader, is just how you can use business as a force for good,” he said. “One of those avenues of business being a force for good is just mobilizing your team members to serve.”
The City of Elkhart is helping Habitat fast-track the development, according to Conrad. When the Elkhart Plan Commission gave preliminary approval for the subdivision on March 3, it heard that Habitat has a waitlist of around 30 families.
Mayor Rod Roberson said he’s happy to see the home supply in the city tick up, potentially giving a place to live for some of the families who commute to work from outside the county.
“These projects are transformative, not just for the lives that are going to be impacted by the homes, but also for the City of Elkhart. There have been years, I’m talking about many years, that we were only able to put, in the county, about 800 homes on the board,” he said. “For Elkhart, it is tremendously important because we have a shortage of housing throughout the spectrum. I don’t care if you’re talking about the higher end, middle income or those that are in need. We have a housing shortage.”
Roberson thanked Lippert employees and praised the relationship between the company and Habitat. Conrad said Lippert’s involvement over the years has encouraged other companies to partner with the organization as well.
“I’ve been here six years, and Lippert has stepped up every single year as we’ve stepped up to the need in our community,” Conrad said. “We’ve gone from building a couple houses, to last year we built 11 houses, and this year, because of the support with Lippert and the partnership on this amazing neighborhood that’s going to be here, we’re going to blow that out of the water this year.”
