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Thursday, May 17, 2012
Feature: June 2009
Hitting Home
Builders focus on construction, so nonprofits can focus on their missions
Story by Bill Romanelli
This may not be homebuilders’ finest hour for an industry’s business model, but through their collective efforts with an organization called HomeAid Sacramento, the industry has shown that its commitment to helping people and organizations in need is unwavering even in the worst of times.
HomeAid Sacramento is the local arm of HomeAid America, a national nonprofit that builds, expands or renovates facilities for nonprofits that provide housing needs for the community. The national organization was founded in 1989 by the Building Industry of Southern California, an affiliate of the National Association of Home Builders. The North State Building Industry Association launched the Sacramento chapter in 1996.
The program works by HomeAid facilitating construction through contributions from the building industry, which typically donates 100 percent of construction management services. For each project, a company volunteers as a builder captain and solicits the support of that company’s subcontractors to bring the project to fruition.
In the past 12 years, the program has brought together several millions of dollars in cash and in-kind support, along with immeasurable staff resources, to serve thousands of homeless people throughout the region.
PEACE for Families:
Pulte Homes and John Laing Homes collaborated on a three-year project to build a 12,500-square-foot emergency shelter for PEACE for Families, which serves women and children who are victims of domestic violence. It had been operating out of a 60-year-old facility that was simply too small to meet the public need; it turned away about 100 women every year.
The new facility, which opened September 2008, includes 13 bedrooms with 39 beds, privacy areas for counseling and family activities, a classroom, kitchen and outdoor play areas. HomeAid, through the two builders, provided more than $2 million in cash and in-kind contributions.
As builder co-captains, Pulte and John Laing devoted more than three years of staff time from the land department, purchasing department and the construction team to the project. The new facility is expected to serve more than 3,000 women and children this year.
In recognition of the company’s contribution to this project, the Community Services Planning Council recently honored Pulte Homes with its Hands on Sacramento award for encouraging employee volunteerism.
Children’s Receiving Home:
Since 1944, the Children’s Receiving Home has been Sacramento’s only emergency shelter dedicated to abused and neglected children. As such, it draws support from a host of organizations in the region with HomeAid being no exception.
The team, with John Laing Homes as the builder captain, constructed a 2,000-square-foot expansion to the facility’s recreation center. The expansion enables staff to better assist older children through teaching skills they’ll need upon emancipation, such as filling out job applications and basic cooking.
This project marks the third construction effort HomeAid has implemented for the Children’s Receiving Home. Previous projects include two residential cottages, which enabled the nonprofit to double the number of residents it could serve.
Sacramento Senior Safe House:
With Lennar Homes as the builder captain, HomeAid is helping build the first shelter of its kind in the western United States.
Completed in May 2009, the 4,700-square-foot facility serves senior citizens who have been removed from their homes by Adult Protective Services because of abuse or neglect. Currently these seniors must rely on motel vouchers or homeless shelters, which are ill-equipped to meet the needs of these individuals. The new facility will provide rooms and a homelike environment for six to 12 residents, who can stay for as long as 90 days while permanent housing and care services are established.
The project, which will be owned and operated by Volunteers of America, was made possible by a $125,000 grant from the Lennar Charitable Housing Foundation and Lennar’s in-kind support in managing more than 30 contractors.
Essentials for Young Lives:
Demonstrating that the building industry’s support goes beyond construction, HomeAid this year announced a new program to collect essential items for homeless infants and toddlers, such as baby wipes, diapers, baby food and formula.
To implement the program, HomeAid worked in conjunction with Lennar Homes, Standard Pacific Homes, Shea Homes and the North State BIA — along with a coalition of other business, civic and faith organizations. The goal was to provide substantial support (the target for diapers alone is 60,000) for nine local nonprofits that serve homeless children, including WEAVE, Maryhouse and River Oak Center for Children, in time for Mother’s Day.
In addition to these, other notable projects include:
• A 20-bed cottage for the River Oak Center for Children with Lennar Homes as the builder captain;
• A 12-bed cottage for the Sacramento Children’s Home with Tim Lewis Communities and K. Hovnanian Homes as builder co-captains;
• The Volunteers of America Winter Shelter (serving more than 150 homeless individuals and families) at Cal Expo with Standard Pacific Homes as the builder captain;
• A remodel project for the Volunteers of America Options for Recovery program with Shea Homes as the builder captain;
• The annual Painting for a Better Tomorrow Program, which offers paint, landscape and light construction services for several nonprofits throughout the region.
All told, since 1997, HomeAid Sacramento has completed or is in the final stages of 39 major projects in the region with the value of in-kind support alone estimated at more than $5.1 million. Nationally, HomeAid’s network of 22 chapters in 16 states has built housing for more than 100,000 people via more than 170 projects valued at $125 million.
photographer Tim Engle
