It’s been a busy 25 years for
Habitat for Humanity Lansing. The organization, which celebrated a quarter century of service on February 2, has invested $5 million in the community, worked with 125 local families and have built or rehabbed 85 homes in Greater Lansing that now generate $160,000 in property tax revenue annually.
For such a big impact, it’s notable that the local Habitat for Humanity chapter began as a simple conversation between friends.
“Jimmy Carter had gotten involved and it seemed like a movement that was meaningful to folks,” says Habitat’s executive director Denise Paquette. “It was a broad spectrum of activists and those involved with social justice who started it.”
Since its inception in 1987, Habitat for Humanity Lansing’s mission has stayed the same, though its projects have changed with the needs of the community. According to Paquette, the organization began with small rehab projects and then grew into exclusively focusing on new builds.
“Now about half of the houses we’re doing are new and half are rehabs,” says Paquette. “There are a lot of empty houses in the Lansing area, and if we can get a house rehabbed and family into it, that’s good for the neighborhood.”
Now, Habitat for Humanity Lansing works with the
Ingham County Land Bank on rehab projects, as well as performs new builds. It also operates ReStore, a building materials resale shop that raises funds for the organization, as well as supplies building materials to local homeowners at a low cost.
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