By Lindsey Arthur—
MUNCIE, IN—Take a drive around our community and you’ll see too many empty and sometimes abandoned homes. In fact, there are about 2,000 such structures in the city. Another 300 houses could be inhabitable but need repairs.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people are on a waitlist for emergency housing.
And that’s not counting the dozens of families waiting for what only Habitat can provide – the next step – stable housing meant to last a lifetime.
What is clear in our community and in cities across the country, particularly in the industrial Midwest, is that the problem isn’t that there aren’t enough homes.
The problem is there aren’t enough quality homes.
Greater Muncie Habitat for Humanity seeks to change that.
For us, progress comes one neighborhood at a time, one home at a time, one family at a time. It is steady progress.
This year, continue our work around neighborhood revitalization, where we’ve had so much success. In the coming months, we’ll do more to identify and make critical repairs to existing structures and we’ll continue new construction plans, where it makes sense. We’re working on new revenue streams, and we continue to nurture new donors and volunteers to build to an already dynamic and generous base.
We progressively build layers of support that address the overarching goal that all residents of Muncie experience an improved quality of life. Communities. Home. Hope. Each layer sits atop the other, building a sustainable future.
It is a laser focus that has been in place for decades. Understanding that systemic change takes a generation to achieve, Habitat continues grinding away and it is making progress, slowly, but assuredly.
The problem is not unique to Muncie. But our city’s low inventory of quality housing stock, combined with an extraordinary pace of climbing real estate values, is a double whammy for the community’s most vulnerable families. Half the population live at or just above federal poverty guidelines.
According to the 2020 Census, slightly more than 30 percent of Muncie’s population live in poverty. Another 20 percent of households in the city is just one disruptive event, like a car repair, away from financial catastrophe, according to the United Way ALICE report. Delaware County median salaries fare better than urban residents but not substantially.
These are the families who need us most. At Habitat, we’re building and rehabilitating homes but even more, we’re restoring lives. If you’d like to know more or wish to volunteer or donate, click munciehabitat.org.
Lindsey Arthur is Chief Executive Officer of Greater Muncie Habitat for Humanity.
