Discover how Smith County Habitat for Humanity is creatively tackling economic challenges. Also learn about the ReStore’s success and the innovative H2 program, where market-value homes fund affordable housing projects. This episode takes you behind the scenes to unveil the evolution of Habitat homes.
Celebrate the transformation of a local fundraiser into a collaboration with professional builders and even high school students, turning dog houses into an auction sensation. But the heart of the discussion beats strongest when Kaitlyn Shultz shares a life-altering renovation story, a testament to the profound difference Habitat for Humanity makes in the lives it touches.
TRANSCRIPT
LANDESS:
“Building homes, communities and hope” is the mantra for Smith County Habitat for Humanity. But the challenges of the economy and inflation can be daunting. I’m UT Tyler Radio News Director Mike Landess. UT Tyler Radio Connects with Habitat’s Chief Marketing and Development Officer Kaitlyn Shultz. So how is the organization dealing with those challenges?
SHULTZ:
We are continuing to thrive is my best answer. We are facing all these challenges head on to continue to impact our neighbors in Smith County, and we are still building houses, repairing houses, having great sales in our ReStore. So we are just we’re thriving as best we can.
LANDESS:
Well, as you talk about ReStore, I was thinking a few years back. Habitat for Humanity of Smith County received the Small Business of the Year Award. Habitat is actually a number of small businesses under one roof, correct?
SHULTZ:
That’s right. We have a mortgage company. You know, not per se, but we do hold mortgages for our Habitat homeowners. We of course have our ReStore, which is retail. We are a construction company; we are a home repair company. We do, we wear a lot of hats, not just hard hats, but a lot of hats at Habitat.
LANDESS:
Well now, ReStore has been an incredible success story, with monthly sales that have continued to rise. Now it’s donated items from individuals, but also brand new products as well. How does all that work?
SHULTZ:
So, we do have some donated items that are gently used, items that come from the community. We also have donated items that come from big box stores that are overstocked, and they spread the love to us, which we’re super grateful for. And then we also have partnerships with some, some stores, organizations, where we get a heavy discount on the items that they send our direction. So I know that there are some partnerships where if we’ll come get it in a big box truck, then they’ll give it to us, which is always a wonderful thing for us to be able to sell that, and all of that money goes back to Habitat’s mission.
LANDESS:
That’s interesting because that money does go back to the mission itself, which is, of course, building the homes and doing the restoration projects. We talked about the challenges of the economy and inflation, so how is Habitat Smith County evolving to meet those challenges? Tell us about, I think it’s called “H2, Habitat 2.”
SHULTZ:
Yes, so we do have in our new construction department, we do have our traditional Habitat homes, which we also call “H1.” And those are the ones that the community thinks of when they think of Habitat, where we do hold the mortgage at 30-year, no interest. It’s extremely beneficial for those who may not typically, may not typically be eligible for a loan with a bank. And so, in order for us to do that, besides the wonderful donations that we receive and the grants that we receive, we also have our H2 program, which is we’re building the same exact house, but those houses are sold on the market. Still at an affordable rate, which is wonderful. We’re still having affordable housing available for our community, but the income, and I hate to call it income, but goes back to the H1 program so that we can build more truly extremely affordable houses for those who are on that lower side.
LANDESS:
Proceeds.
SHULTZ:
Proceeds, exactly.
LANDESS: We’ll call them proceeds.
SHULTZ: That’s right.
LANDESS:
Well, now the look of some of the houses has changed. The simple one-stories, for instance, with the parking pad and that sort of thing, to the two-story homes just a couple of years ago, to some homes with a very modern look. Are these the H2 homes? Tell us about these, the modern-look homes.
SHULTZ:
So the more modern homes that we are actually in the process of building, now — we have four that are on West Jackson Street, and actually two of those will be our traditional H1 homes, and two of them will be our H2 program homes. And the reason that these look so different than the ones we’ve had in the past is because our new, newer CEO — she’s been around for not quite a year yet, she got to use her architecture skills in order to make these Habitat homes just have a little bit more character. They don’t just look like your typical, sometimes cookie-cutter Habitat homes. So just because these individuals may be on the lower side of the income range doesn’t mean they can’t have a really cool house to live in.
LANDESS:
We’re talking about Mary Alice Guidry.
SHULTZ:
Mary Alice, yeah.
LANDESS:
Of course, and she was with Fitzpatrick Architects. Her husband (Corey Guidry) still is.
SHULTZ:
That’s right.
LANDESS:
And he by the way, Steve (Fitzpatrick), speaks very highly of her, and of course, having her be a part of Habitat has been an important element. And the homes themselves — what, are they different on the inside? Or is it mostly the look on the outside, these new homes?
SHULTZ:
They’re a little bit different on the inside. She completely reimagined what they look like and the use of them for the families, and we actually are going to have, of those four homes that we’re currently building in that little development, two of them are going to be two-bedroom homes, which we have not had a two-bedroom home that I know of in the history of Smith County Habitat because not everybody needs three bedrooms in their home. Sometimes two bedrooms is plenty for them and maybe one other person. So we’re trying to fit our homes to what our people need and not giving them too much or too little, depending on what their needs are. So the two bedrooms have a little bit more closet space that you know we use that space well and they have a back patio just like our other ones did. I mean, these are pretty luxurious homes. Habitat homes are not as simplistic as I think some would think knowing what they’re for and who they’re for. We take care of our people, and we set them up for success.
LANDESS:
Well, you have top-level air conditioning systems, as a for instance, and the insulation is top of the line. I mean, it’s all, it’s very efficient. And certainly these homes are, as you point out, some of the earlier ones are pretty simple looking. As you evolve this, will this go into all of the Habitat homes, do you think? I mean, is there that much cost difference in putting one together?
SHULTZ:
There’s really not. There’s really not that much cost difference, and we also, I do want to say we wouldn’t be making all these changes if it did have any detriment to what that loan looks like for our homeowners. We’re not going to put, just because we want to have fancier houses out there, we’re not going to put any more burden on our homeowners. So if it costs the same to build the same house we’ve always done and to have a fresh new look, we’re going to go with the fresh new look.
LANDESS:
Well, here’s an interesting challenge for you. If you have a development or a piece of land in which individual contractors can build, could you build a Habitat house that would fit in a neighborhood, let’s say, with $300,000 homes, and is that even a goal?
SHULTZ:
Absolutely. Having mixed-income neighborhoods, as far as us coming into an existing neighborhood as building as Habitat, is definitely a goal that Mary Alice has talked about with her new leadership with us. And I would say that even the houses that we’ve always had, and especially the homes that we are building now with the new design to them, I would say any of those homes would fit perfectly into a maybe typically higher-income neighborhood. They’re not going to stick out like a sore thumb, and also, I think a lot of people, those who may live in those neighborhoods who might hear of Habitat, wanting to come to their neighborhood. I don’t want those individuals to worry about the people who are going to be living next door to their family.
SHULTZ:
These are wonderful, hardworking, I mean first responders, teachers, extremely vetted people, families and people who are working to provide for their children and just have a wonderful life. And I mean there are lots of different reasons that somebody might not typically be eligible for a loan through a bank. And, as anyone who’s purchased a home knows, it’s jumping through fiery hoops to purchase a home, even if you have all the money in the world to do it with. But some people just, they’ve been working really hard, and they’re taking care of business and this is their option, their best option.
LANDESS:
It’s interesting that in the Habitat home — a real estate friend of mine was saying that there is a real niche there between, say, a Habitat home and the mid-$200s low, high-$200s, low-$300 homes. There’s this hole there in which there’s just not that much product available. I mean, you might be able to find a house in that price range, but it needs everything. So being able to buy a brand new home within that particular area, it seems like that’s a no-brainer.
SHULTZ:
Yeah, it’s especially for those H2 homes that we talked about. They are more in that range that you’re talking about, that weird middle range that’s hard for realtors to find at times, and these are brand new homes and, again, extremely efficient homes. We actually received an award from the Tyler Area Business Association a few years ago for having extremely efficient homes. So, like I said, we set our people up for success. We love our homeowners, and we’re not going to put them in a home that’s going to just bleed money when it comes to the AC in the summer or the heat in the winter and otherwise. We’re making an extremely efficient home so that bills aren’t something that they have to worry about when it comes to what they need to pay every month, then again, taking care of themselves and their family.
LANDESS:
Nonprofits everywhere rely on donations to support their mission, and Habitat for Humanity is no different. Tell us about your upcoming fundraising event that involves tiny houses — really, really tiny houses.
SHULTZ:
Very tiny houses for tiny creatures at times. We are very excited for our “Pup Houses in the Plaza” event that is coming up in April, and it may seem somewhat familiar because Habitat for Humanity of Smith County has done Playhouses on the Plaza previously for several years, and that was a wonderful community event. Builders would build giant playhouses. I mean playhouses are pretty – I mean, gotta get kids in them. They’re pretty big. They would build these houses, they would put them on the square downtown for about a week, so people could see them, people could learn about Habitat.
SHULTZ:
It was a wonderful community awareness event, and then they would auction those houses off during a gala event. And so I think that the last time that they had this event, that committee and our team sat down and said, “OK, do we continue to do this?” It was also 2019. So 2020 was right around the corner. So, if you can imagine, they had some decisions to make a few months in, but they realized that the playhouses were so cumbersome just because they were so large. They were expensive to build, just to move them, to get them into someone’s backyard. If they did bid on them and win them, it became a hassle unfortunately, though, it was a wonderful fundraiser and a community awareness builder. It was so difficult for everyone involved including those who were auction, who were bidding in the auction and getting those houses.
LANDESS:
A great idea that became cumbersome.
SHULTZ:
Yes, exactly. And so they sort of dropped the idea again, especially because COVID came around, and they pivoted. They did some other fundraisers that were wonderful and that fit the time very perfectly. But when I came on board just 2 years ago, I had several friends of mine in the community who said, “Please bring playhouses back. Please bring that event back. It was so wonderful. I remember taking my kids, I remember walking around downtown and going to get dinner and looking at the houses.”
SHULTZ:
And just the whole idea of it was so beloved by our community. And so I went to our leadership at the time and said, “Hey, let’s try to recreate this event. Let’s do it a little bit differently, so it’s not so cumbersome for us and for those who win the houses.” And I said, “What about dog houses?” I’m a huge dog lover. And they kind of laughed at me at first, and they realized I was serious. But between that leadership and then — as we said, Mary Alice came on board July of last year — this dream has just evolved into something that’s finally coming to fruition, and I’m super excited about it. So what this looks like and why it’s a little bit different than what we’ve done in the past, is that we are going to have, we have five wonderful builders who are going to build five extremely unique dog houses, and anyone who’s following us on social media–
LANDESS:
These are professional builders?
SHULTZ:
These are professional. Well, I want to say almost all of them. I’ll say entities even. So, I’ll tell you who we have building our pup houses this year. We have Fitzpatrick Architects, of course. Park Central, Tyler, which is a modern home development that is coming around Tyler very soon. They’re working on that. Root construction. So, yes, professional builders. SCI construction who, if you don’t know, is building the courthouse that we are looking forward to downtown. And then we also have Tyler ISD’s Career and Technology Center. So those are high school students.
LANDESS: Great.
SHULTZ:
What we’re going to do with them — Yes, we are going to auction them off. Yes, we are going to have them out for the community to look at, to vote on. We will have a kickoff party that will be on April 12. That’ll be at ETX Brewing Company, and it’s 5 to 7, an after-work event. You know, kick off your weekend the right way. And that’s where we’re going to debut our houses, and that’s where we’re going to start our People’s Choice Award voting, and that’s going to be all online. Every dollar is a vote, so it is a fundraiser again, all for Habitat. And then those houses are going to then be moved into the Plaza Tower Atrium to be on display for about a week, and then on April 20, which is just that next Saturday evening, we will have our celebration gala and auction.
LANDESS:
Full disclosure. I proudly serve on the Habitat Board in Smith County because I personally believe in the mission of building homes, communities and hope, and what got to me were the stories of those who’ve been blessed by their experience with Habitat and getting a first home or getting repairs that could keep them in their current home. What’s your favorite success story?
SHULTZ:
I would have to say my favorite success story has been Miss Cordella Dorsey. And Miss Dorsey is the widow of a veteran, and she has lived in her home in Lindale alone for many, many years.
SHULTZ:
And when our team got there, it was obvious that some small, what would have been small repairs originally, had turned into some big problems for her. Her bedroom ceiling and roof had completely fallen in. It was raining into her bedroom. She couldn’t sleep in her bedroom, especially not if the weather was bad. She also had some flooring issues. The rooms that were connected to her, the rooms that were connected to her bedroom, were starting to deteriorate as well because of the weather, because of the hole in the, you know, you could see the sky in her bedroom. Our team came into her house, and the way that she describes it is, she never thought she would live in a mansion, but she feels like she does now because she practically has a brand new home because of the work that our team was able to do within her home, thanks to the wonderful grants that we receive from various organizations.
LANDESS:
At no cost to her?
SHULTZ:
At no cost to her. And thankfully, and Miss Dorsey was extremely thankful for the fact that we do vet our contractors extremely well because they are going to be in the homes of some sometimes vulnerable populations, and with Miss Dorsey living alone — I would be. I mean, if it were me, I would be wary of strangers being in my home and knowing that I live alone, knowing where all my doors and windows are and all of that. And so having good people to work on their homes is a really big deal for us, too, and for her it was a very big deal. And she mentioned that many times when I went and spoke to her. But she is extremely proud of her home, and the last time I went and visited her at her house, she told me that her birthday was the following week and she was having, I think she said 25 of her family members were coming over, and she doesn’t, as much as she calls it a mansion, and it is to her, it’s not a massive home, but she was going to fill it with love and people and all the things she could, and she told me everything she was going to bake.
SHULTZ:
So that’s a wonderful, just seeing how proud she was, and she was just, had tears of joy talking about the process of it, because if you can imagine living in a place that’s just not just uncomfortable but simply getting to the point of being unlivable, and then having that same space that you love turned back into something that you can foresee living in forever, that’s a huge difference for someone, especially living on their own. They can’t do these things themselves. They don’t have someone to do this. It was a huge thing for her, and it was really fun to get to talk to her about it and hear about it.
LANDESS:
Any final thoughts about the future of Habitat in Smith County?
SHULTZ:
The future is bright at Habitat for Humanity of Smith County. We have a really wonderful team who are all constantly working to do better, be better, make our community better, and I couldn’t be more grateful to be here.
LANDESS:
Thanks for listening as UT Tyler Radio Connects with Kaitlyn Shultz of Habitat for Humanity of Smith County. For UT Tyler Radio News, I’m Mike Landess.
(Transcripts are automatically generated and may contain phonetic spellings and other spelling and punctuation errors. Grammar errors contained in the original recording are not typically corrected.)
