Habitat for Humanity– Builds on

Shelter in Place,” they said. “Safer at Home,” they said. For those of us who have homes that are safe, affordable and pleasant those were not harsh words to hear. But, far too many people in Rice County having insecure, expensive and unsafe housing. It might be insecure because rent is rising and they may not be able to afford it next month. It might be unsafe because of domestic violence (which has risen during the pandemic) or it might be unsafe for health reasons (poor air quality and mold are big issues). And we know too many people are paying too much of their income Guest Columnist for housing (26% of households in Dayne Norvold

Rice County, according to Minnesota

Housing Partnership). It’s considered affordable if a household pays no more than 30% of their gross income on housing.

When the pandemic struck Habitat’s first worry was our current

Habitat homeowners. Would they continue to be able to pay their mortgage (which we rely on for income)? We were able to modify mortgages for about 20% of our Partner Families. Since then, though,

they have been able to get back on track.

Our second worry was building. Habitat wasn’t sure how we could build the houses we had planned on. We had planned our first Faith Build for 2020 where we had planned to build a quad (four attached units) in Northfield. We wanted a large group of folks from our faith community to support our efforts (and they were eager to do so!). But, clearly 2020 wasn’t the year for that project (but, we look forward to the Faith Build in 2021). Instead, we pivoted to build three single family homes in Faribault.

We had the land and our Partner Families were ready.

But, what about volunteers that we rely so heavily on? We didn’t feel comfortable utilizing volunteers in the same way we have in the past so instead we had an opportunity to get five Americorps members to help us for 10 weeks. They were led by an experienced site supervisor, Jim Frederick, and they helped us tremendously!

We also engaged with our great subcontractors in a deeper way and they kept us building forward. One split level, six-bedroom house was completed and the family moved in at the end of the summer. The second split level, six bedroom house is about halfway done and our third slab on grade house is getting started. Our regular Go To Crew will follow COVID precautions to get these homes done by the end of 2020. When they are done, 25 new people (two families with 11 people in them and another family of 3) will have a safe, decent and affordable place to live.

I’m grateful to work with a nimble organization that has a solid footing in our mission to bring people together to build homes, communities and hope.

Dayne Norvold is executive director of Rice County Habitat for Humanity.