The local Habitat for Humanity chapter has set its sights on building a 12-home subdivision on the east side of the city, with Executive Director Jeremy Stephens saying it will be a “great community” for its residents.
Stephens said the chapter had the idea after finding out Habitat had done the same thing in several larger cities across the country. But he said it will be a harder task to build a 12-home subdivision than constructing 12 homes throughout the city.
“It’s so much more expensive when you start with blank land with no utility tie-ins, with no sewers, with no roads or curbs. It’s a very expensive approach and it’s been a little bit of a dream for a long time for this Habitat long before I came along,” Stephens said.
It wasn’t until Daviess County Fiscal Court donated $1 million to the organization that the idea showed signs of becoming reality.
From there, Habitat started its search for sizeable land that would fit everything that they usually look for in a property — close to shopping, bus routes, access to medical care, and schools.
After more than 6 months of looking, they found a plot of land next to the flea market on KY 144 that would connect off Glenn Court.
The area places them close to all the above markers: a short distance from Owensboro Health Regional Hospital, grocery and other stores on both sides, and within the Daviess County Public School district, among other amenities.
Fiscal Court also recently approved applying for Community Development Block Grants on behalf of Habitat. However, they will not be able to move forward with the project until the grant has been awarded, Stephens said.
“So we’ll be on pins and needles for all of April and probably May until we do find out these funds are approved,” he said.
If approved, Stephens said Habitat will then open the bidding process for roads, curbs, sidewalks, utility tie-in, sewer lines, storm drains, etc. They plan to use the CDBG funds and then the additional $1 million they received to make the homes plus pay for the infrastructure.
In the end, he said it’ll be beneficial for the residents to live amongst each other once the subdivision is complete. Oftentimes, the homes mark the first time that that resident becomes a homeowner.
“For us to put these first-time homeowners in a neighborhood together, I think it’s special,” Stephens said. “…[Affiliates say] one of the major components the residents take away from it is that they’re in a community of people that are in the same boat as them financially and from a standpoint of homeownership.”
He added that the community that Habitat fosters is like that of a family. Even with a diverse background of race and religion, he said they all come together through the idea of homeownership.
Stephens said that Habitat is always looking for volunteers and all skill levels are accepted — even people who have no experience using building tools.
“Sometimes they tell us ‘well, I don’t know how to do that.’ That’s okay,” he said. “We have ways of training. We’ve been doing it here in Owensboro for almost 35 years so we’ve got our means of getting people up to speed very quickly.”
