A Hand Up in Housing with Habitat

Funding, land, and construction costs top of mind for local Habitat for Humanity affiliates

By Art Bukowski | April 26, 2025

Local Habitat for Humanity offices are in the business of making dreams come true, working one family at a time to battle housing insecurity in our region. While Habitat is perhaps best known for building homes, the organization serves residents in many other ways. 

Northern Express connected with local Habitat offices in northwest Michigan to see what’s new and what’s next. (Note: The Otsego-Antrim office was busy assisting with recovery from the March ice storm and was not able to respond by deadline.)

Cadillac Area Habitat for Humanity

Thoughts from Executive Director Amy Gibbs

Express: What are your biggest or most exciting current projects?
AG: Over the past two years, Cadillac Area Habitat for Humanity has dramatically increased its impact across the region—tripling its home builds and launching a Priority Home Repair Program that has already helped more than 20 veteran families remain safely in their homes. The organization has also expanded its service area to include previously underserved Missaukee County and brought on dedicated staff to support the growth of our programs.

One of the most exciting developments is our partnership with the Cadillac Area Leadership Class, a multi-use community engagement space currently under construction. Once completed, it will serve as a vibrant hub for educational classes, community events, and hands-on learning opportunities—empowering more individuals and families than ever before. 

Express: What are the most significant challenges you face as an organization?
AG: Cadillac Area Habitat faces its most significant challenge yet: securing adequate funding to meet the increasing needs of the communities it serves. Uncertainty in federal policy decisions has impacted donor giving, and available grants are now more competitive than ever. Each day, the organization receives urgent requests for critical home repairs—ranging from failing water systems and roof replacements to accessibility modifications and aging-in-place solutions. Without sufficient funding, the team is forced to make difficult decisions about whose needs are most urgent. Prioritizing these critical needs—especially when people are facing real hardship—is emotionally challenging. It’s never easy to tell someone we can’t help right away.

Express: What are the next big goals, milestones, or dreams for your organization?
AG: Looking ahead, Cadillac Area Habitat for Humanity remains steadfast in its mission to provide safe, affordable housing across Wexford, Osceola, and Missaukee Counties. Its primary goals include building new homes, completing essential repairs that allow seniors and veteran homeowners to remain safely housed, and growing community support through volunteer engagement and financial contributions.

Cheboygan County Habitat for Humanity

Thoughts from Executive Director Mandy Martin

Express: What are your biggest or most exciting current projects?
MM: We recently relocated a home to a vacant lot in the City of Cheboygan. The lot was overgrown with vegetation, but we saw the potential to rehabilitate the existing home and revitalize the lot itself. This location is highly visible within the community, which helps raise awareness about our mission. Furthermore, it will enable us to collaborate with neighboring homeowners who may benefit from our Critical Home Repair Program, allowing us to transform the entire neighborhood. We typically aim to complete 10 repair projects each year, in addition to our Homeownership Program.

Express: What are the most significant challenges you face as an organization?
MM: The biggest challenge we face is the significant increase in the cost of building homes “affordably,” as well as in the appraised value of homes. As a result, the incomes of the families we aim to serve also need to rise. Defining “affordably” can be difficult since everyone has their own interpretation of what it means. This varies because no two households have the same income or debt situation. If building homes affordably were as straightforward as some believe, there would be many more businesses, individuals, and organizations involved in creating affordable housing.

Express: What are the next big goals, milestones, or dreams for your organization?
MM: We have been working to grow our capacity to serve the Cheboygan County community members. Six years ago, we were building or renovating just one home every three years, and we managed only one home repair project each year. Since then, we have significantly increased our capacity through our home repair program, now completing 10 to 12 projects annually.

Additionally, we have launched a Hospice Ramp Program and have managed to complete one or two homes every couple of years through our Homeownership Program. However, we are currently exploring options to develop a smaller-scale multi-house project in the future.

Habitat for Humanity Grand Traverse Region

Thoughts from CEO Wendy Irvin

Express: What are your biggest or most exciting projects currently underway?
WI: The New Waves Project (a multi-home project in Leelanau County) represents significant innovation for Habitat Grand Traverse Region. Using precast concrete walls, we are building more energy efficient and easier to maintain homes. This approach has allowed us to build multiple homes at once and complete them in less than six months while still containing our costs.

Equally as exciting are the relationships developing in New Waves. Four homes are completed and have been purchased by Habitat homeowners. They are working with seven additional Habitat families to build their New Waves homes. When the project is finished in 2026, there will be 14 homes.

Express: What are the most significant challenges you face as an organization?
WI: As always, our greatest challenge is identifying funding sources. While our affiliate does not receive federal funding, the pause has created more competition in the nonprofit universe.

We have land, plans and community cooperation for all of our projects, including our New Waves Community, Kalkaska village, and the BATA Carriage Commons, but rising construction costs and competition for funding are the greatest obstacles to meeting our goals. We had a strong 2024 in all areas of the affiliate. We are on a tight timeline to complete our New Waves project and start the eight-home Kalkaska development in 2026.

Express: What are the next big goals, milestones or dreams for your organization?
WI: In 2026 Habitat GTR will celebrate 40 years of changing lives through homeownership. We will celebrate that milestone with the community. Beyond the developments in our five-to-seven-year vision, we are drafting plans for a 32-acre property in Grand Traverse County. Although in the preliminary stages, the project could include up to 40 new homes for affordable ownership. We are exploring concepts, funding, and partners.

Habitat GTR has seen that affordable homeownership creates security and stability for families, and for the entire community. We are not just building structures; we are helping families thrive and enjoy brighter futures.

Northwest Michigan Habitat for Humanity (Petoskey)

Thoughts from Executive Director Sarah Ulrich

Express: What are your biggest or most exciting current projects?
SU: In 2022, we purchased a community called Meadowlands (pictured) that had been started and then abandoned by a developer. Leveraging both state funding and a successful fundraising campaign, we developed a pool of working capital that could be repeatedly invested in building more homes. We successfully implemented a new build process using factory-built modular homes that are assembled and finished on site. That makes us more efficient and lowers our costs. Through this project, we have increased our build capacity by 400 percent per year. Meadowlands is 75 percent complete, and we anticipate building on the remaining home sites this year.

Express: What are the most significant challenges you face as an organization?
SU: We continue to see a significant shortage of affordable housing stock for the communities we serve. Bidding wars—even for homes that are in desperate need of substantial repair—drive prices up beyond what a typical working person or family can afford. We are grateful for the financial support of our many donors, which allows us to build and sell quality homes for less than what it would cost other builders to build them. We are driven to continue increasing capacity to meet the unrelenting need.

Express: What are the next big goals, milestones or dreams for your organization?
SU: Although we can build homes one at a time, we have demonstrated that building communities, rather than single homes, is more efficient and impactful. It also creates a welcoming and supportive neighborhood for first-time homeowners. Our work pours dollars back into the local economy, and impacts economic development by increasing the tax base. We dream of acquiring or being gifted additional tracts of land so that we can replicate the Meadowlands model many times over throughout our service area.