Construction of one of the Habitat Homes that got broken into.

Habitat for Humanity of Smith County has recently experienced multiple break-ins during the construction of new Habitat Homes.

In total, four houses were broken into, Carl Watson, director of operations for Smith County Habitat for Humanity, said.

Three of the break-ins took place on West 25th Street and one on Shaw Street in Tyler. The doors to each of the houses were kicked in, Watson said. Along with this damage, paint was also stolen from the properties.

Each time a home was broken into, doors, door frames and lock hardware had to be replaced. This cost Habitat for Humanity hundreds of dollars every time one of their new homes was targeted.

“Any time somebody breaks into one of our homes while it’s under construction it’s a negative impact,” Watson said. “It’s hurting us, it’s an additional cost.”

Habitat for Humanity works to provide affordable housing for first-time homeowners that are in a lower income bracket, he said. Break-ins not only impact this work, but it also negatively affects other services the nonprofit offer to the community.

“We also do around a million dollars of critical care work throughout Smith county for veterans, senior citizens and disabled folks,” Watson said. “If we end up spending additional funding on our new home construction because of criminal acts, then it just impacts our overall operations in a negative way.”

As a nonprofit organization trying to help people in the community, break-ins prove to add unexpected and unwarranted expenses to what they are trying to accomplish, he said. Things such as this can cause a delay in what they are able to do for the community.

Additional security measures have been put in place to prevent future break-ins at homes under construction, Watson said.

It has been about four months since Habitat for Humanity experienced its last break-in.