Builders of Hope: Rescued Homes Build Solid Communities
In North Carolina, Builders of Hope is creating a national model for giving tear-down houses—and their future occupants—a new lease on life.
January/February 2010
By Wanda Urbanska
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Program founder Nancy Murray wants to create communities, not just homes.
Photo By Jennifer Kromhout
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Americans demolish some 250,000 homes annually, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and many of them are more solidly built than the new structures that replace them. Though in recent years developers have increased efforts to salvage reusable items such as bathtubs, light fixtures and mantels, mountains of demolition debris still clog our nation’s landfills.
Nancy Murray, a former advertising executive in Raleigh, North Carolina, saw gold where others saw garbage. Why not, she wondered, turn our inventory of sturdy but out-of-style housing stock into affordable housing? In late 2006, Murray founded Builders of Hope, a nonprofit organization that saves tear-down homes from the wrecking ball, rehabilitates them with health- and environmentally conscious materials, and either moves the rescued houses into new clustered communities or leaves them as anchors to help revitalize existing neighborhoods.
Builders of Hope uses a combination of licensed staff contractors and volunteers, including AmeriCorps workers, members of organized church and community groups, and individuals. The program teaches volunteers skills and trades such as tiling, sheetrocking and landscaping. Funding comes via home sales, private donations and grants.
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Benefits all around
In 2008, Builders of Hope saved an estimated 2 million pounds of building material from the landfill. Most of the rescued homes were built between the 1930s and 1960s, and many are loaded with valuable features such as wood flooring, solid-surface countertops, crown molding and built-ins. Materials in older homes are “stout and strong,” Murray says.
After saving the homes, Builders of Hope installs modern HVAC systems, plumbing, wiring and siding. The group also installs low-emissivity (low-E), double-pane, Energy Star windows and new roofs, weatherizes crawl spaces, and improves insulation. “We’re really creating a brand-new structure out of pre-existing framing and interiors,” says Lew Schulman, Builders of Hope chief operating officer. “The homes are rehabbed to the point you can call them ‘new.’” Still, about 70 percent of the original structures are saved.
Builders of Hope’s first project, a 24-home, 6-acre community in Raleigh called Barrington Village, opened in 2008 and is now fully occupied. Selling for $89,000 to $185,000, the homes accommodate low- and moderate-income workers who would otherwise be priced out of the housing market.
Participating in the program is also financially attractive for home donors. Rather than paying a demolition crew as much as $25,000 to tear down a structure, donors can pay Builders of Hope $5,000 to help offset moving costs and may qualify for a federal tax credit of as much as 80 percent of the home’s appraised value.