photo by Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph Alonso Sarmiento works to remove items from Herman and Wanda Whitaker's Tyler home so they can remodel a bathroom Thursday Jan. 30, 2015 as part of the Habitat for Humanity of Smith County's ReHabitat program. ReHabitat was started in October 2009 to help low-income seniors with emergency home repairs and modifications. The Whitakers have lived at their home for 43 years.

For more than 40 years, Herman and Wanda Whitaker have called their house on Tyler’s East Franklin Street home.

It’s where their two children grew up, where their family photographs, workplace recognition certificates and other mementos exist.

But when the 80-year-old house started showing signs of wear and tear, the couple couldn’t afford the work.

Their need led them to Habitat for Humanity of Smith County, which provided remodeling services through its ReHabitat program.

The program provided for the renovation of two restrooms, the addition of handrails for exterior and interior steps, new interior steps, a new ceiling fan and a new 50-gallon water heater.

“We are so glad that they do this (because) we know that if it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t be able to get (anything) done and (they’ve) been doing pretty good,” Mrs. Whitaker, 67, said.

The Whitakers are among hundreds of East Texans who have been helped through the work of Habitat for Humanity of Smith County.

The agency celebrated its 25th anniversary last week during a gala at Tyler’s Willow Brook County Club. The event provided the nonprofit with an opportunity to thank its donors and volunteers and give them an update about the work.

 

Habitat’s work

Smith County Habitat is an independent affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, which is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian organization, according to the local Habitat website.

Habitat works to provide homeownership opportunities to low-income working families.

It accomplishes this through the work of donors, volunteers and staff members. Prospective homeowners must work on their home and purchase it at cost with a 30-year interest-free mortgage.

In addition to building new houses, Habitat provides critical repairs on the houses of low-income seniors, veterans and people with disabilities through its ReHabitat program.

Locally, the organization has built more than 100 homes in the past 25 years and completed more than 350 critical repair projects since launching ReHabitat in 2009.

“All of this is possible because of those who support Habitat,” development director Deanna Harrison said during the gala.

 

Meeting needs

CEO Jack Wilson said people locally and around the world live in conditions that many others can only imagine. These conditions include houses without heat, with rotted floors and ceilings, or no doors. Others live in shelters or in their vehicle.

It is Habitat’s mission to eliminate this substandard housing and the organization is working to accomplish that through its 80 affiliates in Texas and more than 1,500 around the world.

In Smith County, more than 20,000 residents qualify to purchase a Habitat house based on income alone, Wilson said. That’s about 10 percent of the population.

Some 3,000 senior adults who own their homes here live below the poverty level and struggle to take care of their own houses, Wilson said.

As Habitat seeks to address these issues, it faces challenges itself. Every Habitat affiliate faces the problem of the cost of land and construction, Wilson said.

Because of these issues, Habitat International has seen a 31 percent decrease in new home production since 2008, he said.

To deal with this reality, the basic business model for a successful Habitat affiliate is changing, Wilson said.

“We are not the same company we were seven years ago when I got here,” he said. “We are now in the process of analyzing and soon incorporating alternative financing options encouraged by Habitat International.”

 

Looking ahead

Moving forward, the organization’s goal is to increase its housing production two- and three-fold and to expand out of Tyler and into Smith County.

With the help of Tyler Junior College’s Small Business Development Center, Smith County Habitat has come up with a business plan to open a Habitat ReStore in Lindale.

Wilson said the profits from the ReStore in Tyler and any other one opened in the future goes back to the organization to help with its work.

The nonprofit has a two-year waiting list for its critical repair program and is planning to actively apply for available grants to help families.

Wilson, who is on the Habitat for Humanity Texas board, said board members will meet with state legislators in Austin this week to ask for continued funding for available affordable housing programs.

“We are not the same company we were even as of five years ago,” he said. “We will not be the same company five years from now. We need to constantly recognize change and adapt to the financial environment in which we live. We must expand our services, but we must grow smart.

“People need us,” he said. “They come to us for help because we are Habitat and that’s what we do. Your Smith County Habitat is committed to the vision where everyone has a decent place to call home.”