(upbeat music) (graphic pops) - Hello and welcome to Journal.

I'm Steve Kendall.

They've been building affordable homes in the area for more than 30 years and in a couple of weeks, Habitat for Humanity of Wood County will be holding one of their gala fundraisers, Hard Hats and High Heels.

That's November 22nd.

Joining us are Mark Ohashi, Executive Director, and Sarai Shaneck, Marketing Communications Director for Habitat for Humanity for Wood County.

Thank you both for being here today.

Mark, kind of give us the background, so a little history and so people who are probably somewhat familiar with Habitat for Humanity, kind of fill in around the details a little bit about what you guys do and the scope of what you do as well.

- Absolutely.

So yeah, our mission is to help families and individuals in Wood County secure decent and affordable housing.

We do that through our new home ownership program, and also we have a small home repair program where we've been able to complete a couple of roof replacement projects here in Wood County for folks that would otherwise not be able to afford it.

So the mission really started in 1993.

We built the first Habitat home in Bloomdale, and that was under the leadership of a lady named Maxine Miller.

And she was a really amazing community member, and she actually founded the Habitat for Humanity here in Wood County, at least, with a group of volunteers.

And so we've been building houses since then.

The organization of Habitat for Humanity of Wood County became officially incorporated as a non-profit in 2000.

And we've continued the mission since.

- [Steve] Yeah, now you talk about the ownership program and affordable housing.

So when we talk about affordable housing, is there like a price range?

How do we codify that, kind of define that a little bit?

- [Mark] That's an amazing question.

And what is affordable?

So one of the key definitions that we espouse to is that we want our families paying mortgages that are gonna be less than 30% of their household income.

And typically they're somewhere around 25% of that household income.

What we've seen is that, especially in the renting community, you know, 42% of families are paying more than 30% of their household income on housing.

And so Habitat provides a way for them to get into a housing situation where they're not putting all of that hard earned, household income into housing, and they're able to hold some of that back in order to make ends meet and provide for other needs that they have.

- Yeah, and probably, correct me, but probably this is a way to get people into the ownership market and then as you said, they can set aside money and maybe eventually then move to a larger house or a different location, that kind of thing.

So it enables them to become owners versus constantly just paying rent all the time.

- And one of the things that I love, so our mortgages are somewhere around $650 a month, and that includes taxes and insurance.

And what we find is that our families are looking to stay in their habitat homes and even pay them off.

And we've had some celebrations of mortgage burning ceremonies where Habitat families have actually gone through the 20, 25, 30 year term of their mortgage and paid it off.

- [Steve] Yeah, yeah.

In a lot of cases too, where you're building these, it brings improved housing stock to the area as well because there are some just, you know, a block, just literally block away from where we're sitting.

And obviously those constructions are somewhat better, maybe than some of the other things around 'em.

So it's improved the housing stock in the city of Bowling Green.

- [Mark] We're really proud of the houses that we do build.

We build them to energy star efficient housing levels and they do look good and we take pride in that.

- [Steve] Mhm, yeah.

Now Sarai, you're marketing and communications so talk about, you go out and probably help publicize all of these things, but obviously too, it's an ongoing thing to get people involved, I'm sure as well, right?

- It absolutely is.

We always need community support in various ways.

We need help financially, of course.

And we need volunteers.

- [Steve] Sure.

- And then finding the families has been, - [Steve] Oh okay, yeah.

- Very important because that's quite... - [Steve] Now what are some of the criteria?

So I mean, obviously you're looking to get people into ownership.

What's the first step on that from your perspective?

How do you go out and recruit, advertise, let people know this is available to you?

And then you kind of filter through who actually meets the criteria?

- [Sarai] Yes, absolutely.

So a lot of that is done through social media.

- [Steve] Ah, okay.

- [Sarai] And then putting press releases out and we let people know.

We also talk to the communities in which we'll be building and put that out to the mayors and the commissioners who are sitting in each of the municipalities and ask them if they have any recommendations.

Mark, do you have anything?

- [Steve] Okay, let me ask you a question though.

So, how do you go about finding a location?

Because obviously purchasing land is not inexpensive to begin with.

So what's sort of the process there?

You talk about going to a community, not every community probably has a lot of available building land possibly.

Or if they do, how do you guys balance the cost of finding a location with being able to then provide, you know, do what you do?

- [Mark] Right, and so we do have a site selection committee that's charged with helping us find lots in Wood County.

We wanna reach out to the various administrations and municipalities to see if there are any lots that they are are in possession of that they would like to donate to Habitat that we could then go ahead and acquire and then build a Habitat house on.

We've also purchased lots privately from various residents in Wood County that have available lots.

- [Steve] Yeah.

When you go out to talk with other jurisdictions about this, I mean, what are some of the questions they have when you first approach them and say, "Hey, we're thinking about your community.

Do you have any possibilities for us?"

What are some of the things they ask you in response to, oh you're interested, well I have some questions?

- [Mark] A lot of times they ask about who the families are and we share with them that the families are, often, residents in your community that are in rental situations that are either inadequate for one reason or another, or they're paying an exorbitant amount in rent.

And so we tell them that we're able to take those residents and put them into a home ownership opportunity where now we're building up the tax base of the community.

And so it is a win-win, and that's what we hear a lot is once the house is built and the mayors and the city administrators come to our dedications, they really do celebrate the win-win of Habitat coming and building in their community.

- Yeah because as you both mentioned, it allows people to have some disposable income which they can then utilize in other ways as opposed to simply providing, I say simply, but being able to just basically have a roof over their heads, they now can spread some of that wealth around a little bit to the community and that sort of thing.

- [Mark] Absolutely.

- Yeah, and have a better quality of life.

- [Sarai] And they get involved in their communities too, more, when they're not working so many jobs to try to make ends meet, to make, you know, that 30% threshold instead of above 50%.

So they're shopping in the local stores and they're giving back to their communities by volunteering and the kids are going to school more.

- [Steve] And the other thing too is, I suppose for the communities, most communities want people to move in, stay there, enlarge the population.

You know, from a purely financial thing, broaden the tax base, that sort of thing.

So as you said, it's kind of a win-win if you can make communities attractive, provide housing so people can move in there in a reasonable way.

As you said, everybody wins in that situation.

So yeah, when we come back, we can talk a little more about how other people can get involved and help you do what you do, because obviously a lot of volunteers, but I think everybody thinks, volunteering, well I go out with a hammer, that's what I do.

But there's a lot of other opportunities for people to help you along that way and volunteer as well.

Back in just a moment with Mark Ohashi and Sarai Shaneck of Wood County's Habitat for Humanity.

Back in just a moment.

Thank you for staying with us on The Journal.

Our guests are Mark Ohashi and Sarai Shaneck from Habitat for Humanity of Wood County.

We talked about building sites and acquiring parcels, things like that.

But obviously once you have that site acquired, now comes the volunteer work of actually constructing.

So talk about the volunteer program and also too donations, because obviously you do purchase some things, but you always encourage companies to donate, vendors to donate materials for themselves.

So talk about the volunteer program a little bit.

- Well, they are the lifeblood of the organization, volunteerism, everywhere from on the build site and also on committees, operational committees that help move the mission forward.

We have a great construction manager, Jason, who welcomes volunteers onto the build site.

And a lot of these volunteers are gonna come from corporate groups that come and build for a day and sponsor a day to help us build that house.

They provide both the financial and the volunteer support.

And then we also have individual volunteers that come out and we call them our core crew, and they're really folks that are comfortable with power tools, have a desire to learn.

And oftentimes our core crew are retired because we say the best ability is availability.

And so a lot of these core crew are folks that come out, they're available, they come out during the week, they come out on several builds.

And so as they repeat doing the same things again and again, they acquire those skills right there on the build site.

- [Steve] Yeah.

- And so they're really a help to Jason and the build site.

- Now, and I know there's no typical construction, but roughly from the day you start to break ground to someone moving in, is there sort of a typical window you strive for?

- [Mark] Construction typically takes about four months.

- [Steve] Oh, okay.

- [Mark] And then we look to close and finish all the paperwork and get that done.

But that's about the timeframe.

- [Steve] Yeah, yeah.

- [Sarai] I think we figured out 108 days.

- [Steve] Wow.

That's pretty good.

That's pretty good.

That's really good actually, too.

Especially when you can start, obviously you have people who have different skill levels, you have some people who are probably professionals who come out and help, who do this for a living.

And then as you said, people who are, oh, that's what this end of a circular saw looks like, okay.

But I think as you talked about too, there are other ways too that people can volunteer, the committee side obviously, and then there's just the being available side, I guess as well.

- [Mark] Yeah, we have a lot of operational committees and so the committees that are going out to find the families and doing our outreach with us, they're the selection committee.

We have the support committee that helps support the families once they're in the program.

I talked about the site selection, that they go out and try to help us find lots in the community.

And we have a finance committee.

Sarai's got a wonderful gala committee.

- [Steve] Great.

- That's helping.

And so really we have a place for everybody of every skill set.

We have a restore committee, because now we're getting into the retail side of things.

- [Steve] Right, right.

- [Mark] So really, folks really find a place to lend their skills and expertise to move Habitat's mission.

- [Steve] Yeah now when you look at a, and I say there are three houses not too far from here, ballpark cost on those 'cause obviously, I mean, I was driving, I saw an outdoor advertising side today for a housing development, Bowling Green, said starting at 300,000.

Well, that still seems like, I mean, that's an expensive home for a lot of people and for most people.

What do you guys usually target, cost-wise?

I know that it obviously it changes as prices fluctuate, but what do you normally try and aim at, as a building cost?

- [Mark] Typically our families, so when we build a Habitat house, our cash out is probably in the neighborhood of 115 to $120,000.

And that does not include the donated portion of the value of donated goods and services to the project.

Our total development cost is definitely somewhere between 150, $160,000.

- [Steve] Yeah, which is still incredibly reasonable in the housing market these days.

Yeah.

Yeah.

- [Sarai] It is.

And the housing supply is so diminished, so.

- [Steve] Yeah, yeah.

Well, and I guess how difficult is it to find locations?

I mean, because every once in a while you hear, well, someone's like, well, we're not sure we wanna do this.

Do you ever run into someone who says, "No, we really don't want you coming into town"?

I mean, it would seem unreasonable, but then human nature being what it is, not everybody's on the same page all the time.

- [Mark] Certainly that exists.

And so we really do wanna work with folks that understands the importance of affordable housing and the importance of providing families with a hand up, not a handout.

Because our families are paying a mortgage and oftentimes people think that, "Oh, they're just getting a house for free."

- [Steve] You just gave them the house and now they're, yeah, yeah, which is probably one of the misconceptions.

But are there common things that people say, well, what about that, and you're like, no, no, that's not how that works.

- [Mark] That's the biggest one, is that folks think that we give away houses and we don't.

We provide families with an affordable mortgage and they have to pay their mortgage, just like any other homeowner.

- [Steve] Yeah, yeah.

- [Sarai] Well, and as part of the process, they have to go through 200 hours of what we call sweat equity, which is they go through financial education, which is a big part of it.

They go through homeowner, - [Steve] Yeah, like 101 kind of.

- [Sarai] Well, it really is, the education part of it is, but as they're going through their sweat equity, they're learning how to take care and maintain their new home that they'll be purchasing.

- [Steve] Yeah because, you know, I think that, you know, because we've all had, you know, my son moved into a house after living in apartments in New York City for years.

It's like, oh, some of the things they didn't think about, now that you're a homeowner, it's like, well no, no one comes in and fixes that for you.

- [Sarai] No.

- [Steve] You're now responsible.

And they knew that sort of, but it is a learning curve for people because if you're used to living in a rental environment, you don't worry about, and sometimes even mowing the yard, someone comes in and does that.

So those sort of day-to-day ground level sort of things are probably like, "Oh yeah, I didn't think about that.

I have to do a little of this and a little of that and maintain the property."

- [Sarai] Right, and I think that's what's so important about the sweat equity.

I did not know all of these things when I started with Habitat a few years ago.

And so it's been very eye opening to see what they go through because, you know, they're really vested in their ownership of these homes and then the communities when they have all the support of the volunteers.

- Yeah.

Now do some of the prospective homeowners that are going to get, for instance, are signed up for us, do they come out and help work on it too, as it's being constructed, sometimes?

- [Mark] The homeowners.

- [Steve] Yeah, the homeowners to beak and the owners?

- [Mark] Oh, absolutely.

So there is a requirement necessary to mention about the sweat equity hours that they do.

And so that's the volunteer hours that they put into the program, done through the home ownership education program, done through the financial management certificate that they complete, but also coming out and building.

So they have to do a minimum of 50 hours of construction on their own site.

And that's a really important part of it.

They get to work alongside the volunteers and they get to learn skills they otherwise wouldn't have.

- [Steve] Yeah, yeah.

So that's how that pipe goes together, you know?

- [Mark] Yes.

- [Steve] Yeah.

Now I would assume, Sarai, that a lot of the people that are in the program that are owning homes are probably some of your best advocates when people go out and talk about the program.

Yeah, they're your base testimonials who could say, "This is how it worked for me, it works.

This is how well it works."

- They are.

They absolutely are.

Some of the best places to hear their testimony is at their home dedications.

I was struck by one of the kids at the very first home dedication I attended, being so excited to have a closet.

I mean, the jubilation of having a closet.

if you've been keeping things in a box, in a bed.

- [Steve] Yeah, that's a real... - Right.

I have my own closet was so... - [Steve] Yeah.

It's something that most people would take for granted that was like a huge thing, yeah.

- [Sarai] Absolutely, and the fact that they will have a space to sit together as a family.

And many of them, we always ask them, what are you looking forward to cooking first in your new kitchen.

And it gives the most surprising answers.

- [Steve] Yeah, so what's something that would come up, like something you didn't see coming, kind of like, oh, 'cause I guess same thing too, it's new, it's whatever and yeah, your first time kind of firing up the stove kind of, yeah.

- [Sarai] Right.

Exactly.

One of the families who will be moving in by Christmas time, Denise can't wait to make a roast chicken, and then her little winds piped in.

"Oh, and there's gotta be mashed potatoes and gravy."

- [Steve] Yeah.

- [Sarai] Yeah.

- [Steve] Nice.

Yeah, those are the kind of things that, yeah, behind those sort of intangible kind of pieces of this as well.

- [Sarai] Absolutely.

And that they can host a Thanksgiving or Christmas holiday with their families now.

- [Steve] Yeah, in their home.

- [Sarai] In their own home.

- [Steve] Wow.

Well when we come back, obviously you've got this big fundraiser coming, big Gala event.

And also too, we wanna talk about the restore, because that's a big part of what you do as well.

Back in just a moment here with the Habitat for Humanity of Wood County on The Journal.

You're with us on The Journal.

Our guests are Mark Ohashi and Sarai Shaneck from Habitat for Humanity of Wood County.

And Sarai, one of the things that we wanna talk about today is obviously you have one of your big fundraising events of the year coming up.

So talk about Hard Hats and High Heels, - [Sarai] Hard Hats and High Heels is our gala event.

We hold it at Nazareth Hall, which is just beautiful.

- [Steve] Beautiful place.

Yes.

- [Sarai] It is just beautiful.

This year, we're in the Cadet West Ballroom, so if you've been there, it's the room with the big beautiful window.

- [Steve] This big circular, yeah.

- [Sarai] Yes.

It's just beautiful in there.

They're so kind to us.

Our theme this year is, "Together we can build and break new ground."

So, you know, we've talked about the need for homes and especially affordable homes.

So this gala will provide people not only a fun evening, it's not just a fun event, but there's ways to give back and help us build more homes.

- [Steve] Yeah.

Yeah.

- [Sarai] Sheriff Wasylyshyn will be our celebrity MC.

- [Steve] Oh, wow.

Yeah.

- So he's very fun.

- [Steve] Yeah.

- He's gonna host our live auction.

We have some great live auction items.

- [Steve] Yeah.

- There's a cocktail hour so people can see other community members they haven't seen and have a chance to meet some of our Habitat families and talk with them.

- [Steve] Yeah.

- Part of our program will really feature one of the families talking about what they've been through.

- [Steve] Yeah, the process and yeah, and what it's like now to to own a home, yeah.

- [Sarai] Well, the family that's coming, their home's being built right now.

- [Steve] They're being built right now.

Okay.

- [Sarai] So they'll be able to speak to the conditions they've been in and what this means to them.

- [Steve] Oh, that'll be great.

- [Sarai] It will be fantastic.

So people can get tickets by visiting our website.

- [Steve] Okay.

- [Sarai] Wchabitat.org/gala.

- [Steve] Yep.

Yeah, and the event's November 22nd.

- [Sarai] November 22nd.

- [Steve] So it's still plenty of time, although I think you have November 15th, so we still have multiple days for them to get involved.

- [Sarai] Absolutely.

- [Steve] Yeah, yeah.

- [Sarai] And sponsorships are always available for all of our builds, and any sponsorship that is purchased for the gala is going to go towards building forward.

- [Steve] Ah, wow.

Great.

So it's important that people really turn out for this and participate because obviously, this kind of helps you build that sort of foundation for all these oncoming ongoing projects.

- [Sarai] Absolutely.

- [Steve] Yeah.

- Absolutely.

Last year, the gala, we had a sold out 200 person event, and that helped to raise funds to open our new restore here in Bowling Green, so.

- [Steve] Well yeah, and let's talk about that because it's gonna be, well, it's Newton and I'm gonna say Brim Road.

- [Mark] That's right.

- [Steve] Brim Road.

Yeah, and people would probably say, oh, for those who live around here, it's the former of BG Rental.

That'll probably put a flag on it a little bit.

So talk about what Restore is and what people will find there.

And if I wanted to donate, what are some of the things I can donate?

What are kind of your criteria for people donating materials there?

- Restore was a major project that we undertook and it's about two years now in the making.

And so yes, we finally found a building that was gonna be suitable for our restore, the former BG rental space, 14,000 square foot of space.

And the idea of Restore is, I like to call, it's a mix between a Goodwill and a Home Depot.

- [Steve] Oh.

- [Mark] Where we're bringing in donated goods from the community and also donated goods from vendors and whatnot that have overstock and putting it into the Restore.

You'll find items from appliances and furniture to building materials.

If you're doing a small DIY project and you need a vanity, you'll probably find it at Restore.

And all of the goods that are sold from Restore provide funds for our mission.

And so it's really an important way of establishing a Habitat affiliate that will be self-reliant and sustainable as we move forward.

- Yeah, now if I have something, so what would be some of the things that you would accept as donations, and how do I get them to you?

Do I have to deliver them, or do you guys come out and pick 'em up?

So, kinda sense like, okay, so I'm redoing my kitchen, I've got all these cabinets, I've got, you know, the surf, I've got all of everything, my kitchen, I'm gonna redo everything, I call you, what happens at that point?

- Yeah and if you're redoing your kitchen, we love to work with the contractors and we just tell the contractors, "Hey, get the cabinets out and bring them over to the Restore and we'll put them into the store."

So we also have drop offs that we're holding right now on Thursdays and Fridays from 10 to four.

And now we're also gonna be starting pickups.

So it would just be a matter of calling the Restore and saying, I have items that I'd like to donate.

You would tell the person on the phone what you have, and they'll go through a couple of questions to make sure that's something that we'd be able to take, and then we would schedule a pickup.

- Now what would be things that you wouldn't, if I call and say, I've got this, you go, sorry, are there certain things you don't really want to have to deal with?

Because obviously you're gonna get a pretty wide range of items, quality, condition, that kind of thing.

- [Mark] The big thing we don't take is clothing.

- [Steve] Okay.

- [Mark] But we are taking household goods, like I said, cabinets, lighting, I have a little list here, building materials, furniture and appliances.

- [Sarai] No mattresses.

- [Steve] Okay.

- [Sarai] We can't take mattresses or soft goods, so.

- [Steve] Yeah, they don't clean up as easily as other things.

- [Sarai] They don't.

- [Steve] Yeah, which is unfortunate, but that's just how it is.

- [Sarai] That's true.

- [Steve] Yeah.

So yeah, so pretty much what I should simply do if I think I've got something you might need is simply call and say, hey, here's some things I have, are you interested or aren't you and then you work it out from there, either picking it up, dropping it off, that kind of thing.

- [Mark] Yeah.

- Yeah.

- [Sarai] Absolutely.

- Yeah.

And so, and then I can walk into the store maybe to purchase whatever.

That's just like a retail operation then, right?

- [Mark] It is.

- Except the money all goes back into the Habitat for Humanity Fund.

- Right, building homes.

- Our hours of operation will be Tuesday through Saturday.

- [Steve] Okay.

- And then the hours from 10 to three from Tuesday to Friday, and then from 10 to five on Saturdays.

And so we are looking to do a grand opening January 23rd, which would be the big day and potentially a soft opening before that.

But really everything is just getting ready right now, and we are bringing in products.

Folks are already donating products, and so we're getting the store ready for the public.

- [Steve] And there's an opportunity, I assume then for people to volunteer to help operate the store, right?

- [Sarai] Absolutely.

Yeah, we'll need assistance, people to ride on the truck to help the Restore truck driver to pick up donations and we'll need people to answer phones and schedule those donations or help out on the sales floor.

- [Steve] Yeah, so well, if you've done retail, you're retired, this is an opportunity to come in and volunteer a few hours and and keep those customer service skills peaked up.

So that's good.

Yeah.

- [Sarai] Absolutely.

- [Steve] Great, good.

Well, Mark and Sarai, thank you so much for coming in and good luck with the Hard Hats and High Heels event And thank you so much for what you guys do for the community because obviously, affordable housing, we hear it all the time, need more affordable housing.

So this at least starts to, you know, crack that wall a little bit and make it available for people who otherwise, would just be caught kind of on a treadmill of constantly paying rent at, as you mentioned, Sarai, a larger share of their income that they could then put into ownership and then actually have more disposable income to invest in the community in other ways.

So as Mark said, it's a win-win all the way around.

So thank you so much.

You can check us out at wbgu.org.

You can watch us every Thursday night, 8:00 on WBGU-PBS We will see you again next time.

Goodnight and good luck.

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