Charitable Builders To Pool Resources

Eight of Idaho’s 12 local Habitat for Humanity affiliates will form a statewide organization in mid-January.

The result, said Verne Blalack of Cataldo, will be easier fund-raising, bargains on bulk building supplies and, ultimately, more good homes for low-income residents.

Blalack has led the organizational effort. Two possible benefits that he foresees are a state warehouse to store donated materials and roving construction supervisors.

“There can be a lot of sharing of expertise,” he said this week.

Among the affiliates slated to join forces are North Idaho (Coeur d’Alene/Post Falls), Silver Valley (Kellogg/Wallace) and Palouse (Moscow/Pullman).

The Panhandle and Boundary affiliates, based in Sandpoint and Bonners Ferry, won’t be joining for now, Blalack said.

“They’re small, not real strong, and they probably feel they can’t afford to or don’t have anyone they can lend to the state organization,” he said.

Habitat for Humanity is a nationwide charity that aims to provide decent housing by building homes that low-income people can afford to buy. It relies on donated money and material plus volunteer labor, including the “sweat equity” of prospective homeowners.

There are some 13 statewide organizations in the country, Blalack said. Washington and Oregon affiliates are among others that are organizing.

Montana has had a statewide group for about three years. One advantage has been its ability to get construction loans.

“Every time a home is half-built in Montana, they can get a check for $5,000 from the Federal Home Loan Bank” to start another house, he said.

As a result, “Montana may eliminate poverty housing before any other state in the union.”

The new Idaho organization will meet with the Idaho Banking Association to discuss a similar arrangement, Blalack said.

Lenders and businesses prefer to work with one large charitable organization, rather than be approached by many smaller ones, he said. Plus, a company’s contribution to a statewide organization offers the chance for statewide publicity, he said.

Habitat for Humanity built 16 homes in Idaho in 1998, Blalack said.

Staff writer Alison Boggs contributed to this story.