RECYCLE A HOUSE, REVITALIZE A COMMUNITY

Recycle a Home. Revitalize a Community.

Revitalize a Community.

BY: MEREDITH BECK

The low hum of an 18-wheeler slowly approaching fills the quiet street in Homewood, Ala. (AL). Families are tucked away in their houses, sharing stories around the dinner table, completing homework assignments, bathing children. Their neighborhood will look a little different the next morning when the sunrise reveals an empty lot where a quaint house once stood. All day the construction workers prepared for this moment. The empty house is sitting on stilts, no longer secured by its foundation. Dollies are carefully maneuvered beneath the house, which attach to the 18-wheeler. Slowly, the driver pulls away leaving a plot of land ready for a new home to be built. Transporting a house is not a novel idea. Todd Kirkpatrick of MT Kirkpatrick House Movers says house moving is over one hundred years old. “House moving has been around since the 1800s,” Kirkpatrick said. “It’s still mind boggling to us how many people don’t know about house moving.” Kirkpatrick also said the process of moving a house takes a minimum of five days from the very start of the process through to the end, but it can take longer depending on the house structure. One particularly difficult job moving a house for Build UP required cutting the structure in two. “The house we brought to Ensley actually had to be cut in half, which is somewhat complicated,” said Kirkpatrick. SUSTAINABILITY Sustainable living is a movement sweeping across the globe. Through recycling and eliminating single-use plastic, individuals all over the world are seeking to decrease their carbon footprint and become better stewards of our earth’s resources. Many families and individuals make a habit of recycling plastic water bottles, junk mail, cardboard boxes, milk jugs, and anything else the city accepts as “recyclable.” However, recycling a house is an entirely different kind of project. Build UP, a non-profit organization in Birmingham focused on community revitalization, is playing a role in this sustainability effort in a way that has never been seen before through recycling houses. The recycled homes originally come from Homewood and Mountain Brook, and are transported to Ensley, Alabama, where Build UP apprentices restore the houses into quality starter homes for families in the community.

B R E A K I N G D O W N THE BENEFITS

Donating recyclable homes is sustainable both economically and environmentally. According to Build UP founder and CEO Mark Martin, moving houses from communities in Homewood and Mountain Brook essentially pays for itself. Greater Birmingham Homebuilders Association president Colt Byrom says donating keeps the older homes from going to landfills and provides the homeowner with a tax write-off that should cover the cost of moving it.

According to Build UP, recycling a house is not only cost effective for the family donating the home, but it also is beneficial for the future inhabitants of the house. A standard scenario for the home donation initiative is when property owners are looking to sell the home they have lived in for approximately ten years to move elsewhere. Often, the house was constructed in the 1960’s, but has been taken care of and has some updates. The land value alone in Mountain Brook and Homewood is typically appraised to be valued at $185,000, and the house alone is valued at $145,000, making the total value $325,000. However, cleared lots in neighboring areas can sell for anywhere from $325,000 to $375,000.

If the homeowners have a projected adjusted gross income (AGI) of $300,000 for 2019, this places them at a 35% federal tax rate, which incurs a tax burden just over $80,000 plus a minimum of close to $15,000 owed to the state of Alabama. This makes the homeowners’ total tax burden approximately $95,000. However, if they donate the house to Build UP, which is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, they are entailed to a likely tax refund of more than $55,000.

H O W T H E PROCESS WORKS

In order to donate a home, the owners pay Build UP for half the cost of moving the house from the property to the designated location in Ensley. This is a minimum of $15,000 at the time when the house is being moved. Additionally, the home owners pledge to make a cash donation to Build UP after receiving the receipt of their tax refund which will cover the remaining amount for moving the house.

Once the house is transported, the homeowners can potentially sell the lot for even more, knowing that most interested buyers would have demolished the house to build a larger, more modern home. Ultimately, the homeowners can potentially receive $25,000 from the tax benefit and an additional $20,000 in added value for selling their plot of land in Mountain Brook or Homewood without the 1960s house.

The bottom line is everyone wins. Build UP apprentices, families, and the Birmingham community now receive a home to help end generational poverty and revitalize the neighborhood. The homeowners benefit financially by approximately $50,000 through donating and recycling the home and selling the land, while not having to pay any demolition costs. The environment wins by keeping a stable, sturdy home from going to a landfill.