BY ANA RISANO
Managing Editor
Habitat for Humanity of the NC Sandhills is making changes to its leadership structure as it experiences growth and aims to continue the nonprofit’s upward trajectory.
That means the current executive director role held by Farrah Newman is being split into CEO and COO positions. The idea is to set up a strong partnership between the positions, with Newman’s purview being mainly operations, and the new CEO focused on leadership and community engagement.
“It’s a shared vision of the heavy lift of the leadership that takes place,” Newman said. “We make it look easy, but it’s sometimes challenging. And there’s a lot that goes behind the scenes, and it is lovely when you have a partner on an executive level that you can talk with and strategize with and just be there for each other.”
Affiliate Board Chair Sue Ralston added that the nonprofit is at a point of growth between serving its three counties — Moore, Hoke and Richmond — and working to develop Sandhills Station. That project is on roughly 103 acres in Aberdeen off U.S. 15-501.
“Everybody grows,” Ralston said. “And so when we saw this big initiative, we wanted to be forward-facing and make sure that we’re set up for the long-term because we also know that this area is growing. A lot of people find it attractive, but because of that, we also need to focus on affordable housing.”
Habitat bought the Sandhills Station land in 2023 after the affiliate received a $3.5 million grant from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. The site has seen a few land plans involving mixed uses. But the affiliate recently settled on a new strategy that involves doing what it does best — building single-family housing and community. A couple of sections fronting U.S. 15-501 will be commercial, consistent with the existing land zoning.
Newman said the plan shift is in response to the number of higher-density housing options like apartments and townhomes popping up around the county. The updated site rendering shows about 150 homes planned in a mixed-income community. Habitat is in conversation with a national builder which has expressed interest in partnering on infrastructure and housing development.
“We will have market rate and Habitat homes,” Newman said. “The concept is everybody lives together and everybody gets to have the benefit of a neighborhood. And the only difference is the Habitat homes will have affordable mortgages.”
Newman emphasized that Habitat’s homes are valued at market rate. The only difference between a Habitat home and another home is the nonprofit works with each homeowner on setting an affordable mortgage. That means the mortgage does not exceed 30 percent of their income.
Regarding the national builder partnership, Newman said the company reached out to Habitat with the idea. She and Ralston are hopeful this project can be a model for other Habitat affiliates and organizations working to bring about affordable housing.
The plan is for the site to be built in quadrants, with Habitat constructing its homes intermingled with the national builder’s homes. Sandhills Station’s build-out is planned over 10 years.
Habitat plans to continue its regular operations as Sandhills Station progresses, which is another reason for setting up the new leadership. Currently, Habitat builds an average of 12 homes and completes roughly 40 home repairs yearly.
“We want that to stay stable and strong. So when Sandhills Station comes on, we’re just adding an extra layer of the already good things that are happening,” Newman said. “So it’s really important for us that we have staff in place, structure in place to support all of the great things that we’re doing.”
Habitat recently opened its annual application session for homeownership. For more information, visit sandhillshabitat.org/homeownership/. The application period closes Aug. 16.
For questions about the CEO position, reach out to Habitat at ceosearch@sandhillshabitat.org.
Contact Ana Risano at (910) 585-6396 or ana@thepilot.com.
