4 • The Southwest Portland Post
NEWS
November 2016
Habitat for Humanity to purchase church property for new development
By Jack Rubinger
The Southwest Portland Post
Habitat for Humanity is planning to
purchase the United Methodist Church
property at 2401 SW Taylors Ferry
Road to build homes for families on 12
individual lots.
The organization is still in final
negotiations with the Oregon Idaho
Conference of the United Methodist
Church to purchase the site, so project
details are limited.
The church decided to close its doors
this year. According to church leaders,
the church population was small and
the building was in need of significant
improvements to stay open.
It was only after their decision to
close the church that they reached out
to Habitat as a possible purchaser of the
property so that it could be used for a
purpose that advanced the ministry of
the church.
“We’re always on the lookout for land
that is affordable that can be developed
into affordable homes for hardworking
families in need of an affordable place
to live,” said Melinda Musser, director
of communications for Habitat for
Humanity.
“We specifically look for sites where
services are accessible, like public
transportation, access to healthy food
and good schools.
“With the increases in land values in
recent years, this has become extremely
Habitat for Humanity plans to purchase property from the United Methodist Church in
Southwest for a new housing development. (Photo courtesy of Habitat for Humanity)
The United Methodist Church building at Southwest 24th and Taylors Ferry Road is not
being used due to deterioration. (Post photo by Don Snedecor)
FAMILY-CENTERED MATERNITY CARE
challenging and we have come to rely
on the generosity of others to sell us
properties at a discount so that we can
pass the savings along to families that
cannot afford the current home values.”
According to Musser, there is a huge
need for affordable homeownership
opportunities throughout Portland.
Many low and moderate income
households are no longer able to buy
their first home, because of the huge
disparity between average income and
average home prices.
Also, people are getting pushed
further and further out of the city due to
housing prices, which is causing longer
commutes and increased traffic.
“We all know that housing is key
to solving many of the problems our
working poor families face,” said Judith
McGee of McGee Wealth Management.
“Costs of living have outpaced people’s
resources.
“At my company, our employees have
donated time working on Habitat for
Humanity projects,” said McGee.
“They are among the most rewarding
team projects we’ve done. Portland
needs to find housing solutions that
work and look at alternatives that may
be non-traditional. We can do better.”
Once the appropriate permits to
build have been secured and approved,
it typically takes about one year for
Habitat for Humanity to build and sell
homes.
But it takes about 1-2 years to get
site plans developed and through
city permitting processes. So far, the
organization hasn’t run into any
roadblocks.
Habitat for Humanity Portland/
Metro East will be the developer/
general contractor on this project.
Habitat has professional construction
project managers and superintendents
that lead the construction with a balance
of subcontracting work, like electrical
and plumbing, and leading volunteers
and future homeowners in doing things
like framing and finish work.
Habitat goes through a careful
selection process for all of the homes
they build, and selects the families prior
to starting to build the homes.
Each family puts in 500 hours of sweat
equity helping to build their home
and the homes around it alongside
volunteers, and then buys the home
from Habitat with an affordable
mortgage.
Habitat qualifies the family for a
mortgage just like a bank would qualify
someone for a home loan, to ensure that
they have a steady income and are likely
to be successful homeowners.
“Habitat homes are built to last,” said
Musser. “We know that the families
that buy our homes tend to stay put.
Most of the first homes we built in
Northeast Portland 25 to 30 years ago
are still owned and lived in by the same
families.”
According to Musser, all Habitat
homes have some private yard space,
but it varies significantly from project to
project. “In some cases we concentrate
the houses together to create a shared
common green space for a play area or
garden. The site in Southwest Portland
has a lower density zoning than some
of our others which will result in larger
yards.”
Habitat for Humanity has been
building homes in the Portland area
for 35 years. While this initially started
with building single family homes on
individual lots, for the past 15 years
most of Habitat’s work has been in
building communities of 10-45 homes.
This has included building
communities of detached single family
homes, like the 21 homes currently under
construction in the Cully neighborhood.
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A view of the United Methodist Church property facing south. Habitat for Humanity is
planning to build a cluster of affordable homes here. (Post photo by Don Snedecor)