Local Habitat for Humanity finishes site in Lacey; Tumwater and Olympia projects next
South Puget Sound Habitat for Humanity dedicated the final three homes at its Lacey-based Deyoe Vista development over the weekend, completing the pandemic-delayed 33-home project, the largest to date for the nonprofit home builder.
Up next, construction begins on 28 townhomes in Tumwater and then around 110 homes in Olympia on Boulevard Road, according to the organization.
Deyoe Vista resident Crystal Mazzuca, who spoke to The Olympian before the Saturday event at the site, said it was a bittersweet moment.
Since living there in the neighborhood near Komachin Middle School, Mazzuca had become used to the sound of Saturday morning construction, a reflection of the 500 hours of sweat equity each new owner must put in before occupying their home.
“Part of me is a little sad because I’m not going to hear it anymore,” said Mazzuca, a single mother with three children, who also recently joined the South Puget Sound Habitat for Humanity board of directors.
Mazzuca recalled the life-changing moment of home ownership.
Single, college-educated and working full-time as an elementary school teacher, Mazzuca quickly realized that although she could afford rent, it was so high she couldn’t save for much beyond that.
“I couldn’t save to make a down payment,” she said. “It felt hopeless.”
She finally turned to the internet and typed the following into a search engine: Help for single moms buying homes.
That led her to consider buying a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development home, although she had heard HUD homes often need a lot of work. Her next stop was Habitat for Humanity and it was a revelation in more ways than one. Mazzuca previously thought that Habitat strictly built homes overseas or in the wake of natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina and not for someone like her.
She called the local office and was encouraged to apply since her annual income fell into the appropriate range of 30-80 percent of area median income to qualify. In July 2017, she got the call that her application had been approved.
Mazzuca’s reaction? She screamed.
“I got a house! I got a house! I got a house!” she remembers yelling aloud at an area church where she works today.
SPS Habitat for Humanity evolves
As life-changing as it has been for Mazzuca, South Puget Sound Habitat for Humanity also has adjusted its model to the times as home prices have skyrocketed. The median price of a Thurston County home hit $500,000 in April, according to Northwest Multiple Listing Service data.
The organization previously financed its own projects, but now works with the banking community, giving it faster access to cash after the sale of a home to a qualifying resident, said SPS Habitat for Humanity CEO Carly Colgan, now in her fourth year with the nonprofit.
They sell homes for between $130,000 and $190,000, typically resulting in a $1,000 a month payment for the resident toward the first mortgage, Colgan said. The house might appraise for much more that that, so Habitat picks up the difference in the form of what she called a “silent second mortgage.” The challenge is that the second mortgage has gone way up as home prices have increased, she said.
The size of the second mortgage over the years has grown to as high as $200,000 from $40,000, she said.
“It’s causing us to have conversations about how we make this more (financially) sustainable,” Colgan said.
One idea that might be applied to the future Olympia development on Boulevard Road is to create a land trust model in which the organization would own the land. It means the home appraisal would only take into account the value of the structure, not the value of land and structure, thereby controlling costs a bit more.
“We still have to subsidize but at least it starts the process,” she said.
The next SPS Habitat for Humanity project is coming up quickly. They expect to break ground in June on 28 homes in Tumwater at 73rd Avenue Southeast and Henderson Boulevard. That project is expected to take two years after the pandemic-delayed Deyoe Vista took about six years, Colgan said.
And then the Olympia project is in the offing.
The city of Olympia announced in April that it had selected SPS Habitat for Humanity to develop affordable housing on the 10 acres it owns at 3900 Boulevard Road SE, The Olympian reported.
The city and Habitat are now in the middle of a 180-day negotiating period. During the period, the two parties will negotiate a purchase price for the land for what could be 100-110 townhomes and “senior cottages,” The Olympian reported.
There is plenty of demand for affordable housing, Colgan said.
SPS Habitat has a 500-person interest list, most of whom are single parents or one-income families.
“They are not homeless, they are struggling to pay rent, somebody who is just squeaking by,” she said.
This story was originally published May 3, 2022 at 5:45 AM.
