BY ANA RISANO
Staff Writer
The local Habitat for Humanity knows a thing or two about building communities — and not just physical homes in neighborhoods. Day-to-day operations also focus on making meaningful connections and advocating for affordable housing.
Habitat for Humanity of the NC Sandhills recently underwent a leadership change, tapping Farrah Newman as its next executive director. She has been with the affiliate for about a decade, previously serving as its general contractor and operations manager.
Her aim for the nonprofit’s future falls into four categories: advocacy, communication, revitalization and partnerships. But the transition, which happened six months earlier than planned, has taken some time.
“For most any transition, you’re finding your new normal,” Newman said. “I think a lot of the bumpiness has started to smooth out. It’s our new normal, and how we want to do business and how we want to show up.”
The change has included physical differences like new office spaces and faces, but the affiliate’s goals of connecting people and creating more affordable housing has not faltered.
“We’re all mission-minded, and we love our mission. Our mission statement is ‘God’s love in action to build homes, community and hope,” Newman said.
Advocacy, Communication
Advocacy is part of any nonprofit organization looking to reach its community. For Newman, it’s at the top of her daily to-do list. She’s reached out to not only local officials but also state and federal representatives to share the importance of the affiliate’s work.
Newman’s unique background in construction and finance has positioned her well to describe the nuts and bolts of Habitat to any audience. She can explain in the simplest terms how continued funding allows the affiliate to keep building affordable housing.
“So when people talk about affordable housing, it’s not that you build less or that you build more,” Newman said. “Affordable housing really is an affordable mortgage. And that’s what we guarantee, because our houses are built to energy codes that are better than building codes. We make sure that our homeowners have things in their homes that will last them a good 30 years.”
Newman added that Habitat once only built on infill lots within neighborhoods, where there would be infrastructure in place. When she started working construction, she brought in the vision of small cul-de-sacs because the infill lots were becoming expensive as options diminished.
But building small neighborhoods also means covering more expenses to install roads and connect to utilities. She shared two examples of Habitat cul-de-sacs — Bright Meadow and Blue Bird Hill — that each required more than $700,000 in infrastructure before the lots were set.
It’s part of why the “sticker price” for a home has increased, along with rising costs for construction materials. Previously, the nonprofit has shared that it takes about $70,000 in donations to build a single home. Now, the “sticks and bricks” cost is about $125,000. It’s $200,000 if adding infrastructure costs.
Newman said each home starts off at the fair market value via a third-party appraisal. She said if a home is appraised at $300,000 and a homeowner can afford $100,000, the gap of $200,000 is the mission.
“That is what we’re trying to raise the money for because we don’t build cheaply, and money is at a premium. But we serve a certain subset,” Newman said. “And so that affordable mortgage is what we’re screaming all day long. And it’s different for everybody because we serve (people who make) 30 to 80 percent (of the area’s median income).”
For this fiscal year, Newman said they have built and sold 14 homes across its footprint in Moore, Hoke and Richmond counties. Habitat also completed 40 home repairs, helping 54 families total.
Habitat does home repairs through its Aging in Place program, focused on ensuring older community members or those with disabilities can stay in their homes. Repairs include roof, septic, HVAC, window replacement and wheelchair ramps.
Newman also shared that while the affiliate has long been considered a rural, medium-sized Habitat, covering three counties and its position within the micropolitan of southern Moore County makes it a large, regional affiliate.
“For me, that puts us in a different geographic service area. It puts us in a different mindset to where we’re not just this little affiliate in the Sandhills,” Newman said.
Revitalization, Partnerships
Newman works closely with Olivia Webb, who joined the nonprofit as its development director in January. They joke about being a dream team, with their excitement for the affiliate’s future meshing well together.
“She has such great energy and such great ideas, and she’s been in fundraising,” Newman said. “She’s got such a high-level skill set in fundraising that I don’t have, but I love talking about ideas with her, about how we want to sort of restructure some of the fundraising events.”
Habitat held its 30th fundraising gala in April. That event showed ways the affiliate could shake up how it fundraises to bring new engagement opportunities for the community. Webb mentioned the idea of creating more intimate gatherings to spread their mission throughout the year, where homeowners can share their stories without being on a stage in front of a large crowd.
“My instinct in development would be to get a homeowner up there to talk about their process, their experience,” Webb said about the recent gala. “When I go to dedications, that’s what moves me — when I hear them talk about their path they took to get there. I think in that setting it would be harder for me to talk about anything. But a homeowner, I think, would be almost more impactful in a smaller group.”
She added that fundraising is just part of her focus as development director. She’s also looking at “rainmaking,” or how the nonprofit can make money outside of donations. Webb is interested in seeing what sectors of the economy the habitat homeowners are coming from and see if the affiliate can build partnerships with their employers.
Webb says the support Habitat receives isn’t in just donations, it’s in spirit as well. The affiliate is a social hub, inviting people from all walks of life to meet and work together for Habitat’s mission.
“This place fosters in-person connection,” Webb said. “That is becoming more and more rare.”
For more information about Habitat for Humanity of the NC Sandhills, visit sandhillshabitat.org/.
Contact Ana Risano at (910) 585-6396 or ana@thepilot.com.
