Latest news with #HabitatforHumanityof
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Waukesha Habitat for Humanity 'Volunteer of the Year' puts in the hours
The Brief Louisa Rank is putting in the work, volunteering with Habitat for Humanity of Waukesha and Jefferson Counties in 2018. She's put in hundreds of hours in 2024 alone, and has volunteered in North Carolina following Hurricane Helene. She's also been selected as the organization's "Volunteer of the Year." WAUKESHA, Wis. - When a construction site is packed with more than 100 people at a time, it's hard to stand out. This woman is proving otherwise. She's recognized for her construction skills in Waukesha County and hundreds of miles away. FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android What we know This is not how Louisa Rank envisioned retirement. She started volunteering with Habitat for Humanity of Waukesha and Jefferson Counties in 2018. Just last year alone (2024), she logged 489 hours on site. Rank says she just can't stop. "Over time, it's like, yup – nope. Give me those power tools," Rank said. If that weren't enough, Rank also raised money for, and organized, a group of 10 volunteers in North Carolina last fall. "Most of the homes got like 3–4 feet of water in them," Rank added. She put her new skills to work, helping habitat homeowners in Henderson County, North Carolina, forced to rebuild after Hurricane Helene. "The word that comes to mind is empowering. Especially a woman on the build site with no background in construction," said Melissa Songco, CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Waukesha and Jefferson Counties. The group selected Rank as its "Volunteer of the Year." Songco says looking around this construction site, it's easy to see rank's influence. What we know The project is called Dominica Park. Next month, even more new residents will be moving in as the project enters its final phase. It's the largest build in the organization's history, an entire city block between Oakland and Greenfield in Waukesha. When finished, the neighborhood will house 20 families. SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News There have been many people who've lent a hand in making Dominica Park a reality. Rank hopes her hard work inspires others to pitch in. "Oh, it fills you up. It fills you up so good," said Rank. Rank will be honored at Habitat's "Dream Builders Gala" next month. Construction at Dominica Park is expected to wrap up in 2026. The Source This story was produced by FOX6 by interviewing Louisa Rank and Melissa Songco.
Yahoo
06-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Low-income households struggle to afford a home in TN. Carbon credits can help.
Last winter, cold snaps across the U.S., including in Tennessee, put thousands of people at risk. Now, as summer approaches, little will change. Because of rising home energy bills, many households are forced to choose between staying warm in the winter and cool in the summer—or paying for rent, food and life-saving medications. Carbon credits, a market tool used to help companies reduce their climate impact, could help low-income Tennesseans afford proper home heating and cooling. This would occur by helping pay for energy efficiency upgrades that will significantly reduce household utility bills. (Read more on the definition of carbon credits below.) The stakes are high. 13 million U.S. households face energy cost burdens (ECBs) so high that they forego essential heating and cooling. Low income households face some of the highest ECBs in the country, spending 8.1% of their income on energy costs, compared to 2.3% for non-low-income households. Additionally, many of these households are renters who lack the authority to fix poorly insulated homes or replace energy-thirsty appliances. Carbon credits are generated by projects that reduce carbon emissions or remove carbon from the atmosphere – projects like rooftop solar panels and home weatherization. Such emission reductions are measured, bought and sold on markets around the world. By participating in carbon credit projects based on energy efficiency, or distributed energy resources, like electric heat pumps, Tennesseans could take part in a global voluntary carbon market valued at $2.97 billion in 2023, and projected to reach $24.0 billion by 2030. Doing so can in turn help keep Tennessee homes at healthy, seasonally appropriate temperatures while also lowering household utility bills. Companies looking to reduce their environmental footprints can partner with nonprofits working in housing, energy, and health-equity. Nonprofits like Habitat for Humanity of Greater Memphis, and Rebuilding Together Nashville, for example, can work with local contractors like Energy Electives to implement energy efficiency upgrades in low-income homes. Carbon credit verifiers like Watt Carbon – the leading provider of measurement and tracking for carbon credits generated by distributed energy resources – will round off the partnership by underwriting verified and transparent transactions in environmental credits. When companies purchase the carbon credits generated by energy efficiency, upgrades that were prohibitively expensive – like purchasing a heat pump or insulating an attic – become attainable for low-income owners and renters. Households can suddenly afford the upgrades because companies are paying the upfront costs of making these upgrades by purchasing the carbon reductions. This is a win-win because people can access funding that helps protect them from extreme heat and cold by making home heating or cooling more affordable; as the burden of energy costs lessens, people can afford to take better care of their health and save, all while air quality and climate change benefit from lower emissions. The corporate money spent on purchasing the upgrades is the new source of funding for low-income residents. This funding pays for energy efficiency upgrades and the upgrades, in turn, reduce the energy (and energy cost) of keeping a home at seasonally appropriate temperatures. The companies investing in carbon credits generated through energy efficiency upgrades are, in turn, reducing their climate impact by improving public health and climate resilience in the region, and preferably in the communities where they locate. At the Climate, Health and Energy Equity Lab at Vanderbilt University, we design economic and health-equity interventions with environmental co-benefits, especially for marginalized communities. Our Nashville study found that using carbon credit income to lower heating bills by improving energy efficiency is a viable option. We are now piloting this practice with our community partner Westwood Baptist Church, who runs a Housing Ministry providing lower-income households with below-market rentals in North Nashville. Taking this study from a pilot to a statewide practice could help Tennesseans stay warm and healthy without breaking the bank. Carol Ziegler, FNP-C, DNP and Zdravka Tzankova, Ph.D., are professors and co-founders of the Climate, Health and Energy Equity Lab, Vanderbilt University. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Carbon credits make housing accessible to low-income people | Opinion
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Habitat for Humanity breaks ground on two affordable Norwich homes
Norwich — Nonprofit Habitat for Humanity of Eastern Connecticut will soon use two long-vacant Palmer Street parcels donated by the city to build two affordable homes, which will allow the city to start collecting tax revenue from the parcels again. Homeowners' total costs to live in the homes, including their mortgage, insurance and taxes, will not exceed 30% of their total income, they said. On Wednesday, officials from the nonprofit, along with Thames Valley Council for Community Action and U.S. State Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd district, held a groundbreaking ceremony for the project, digging their shovels in a pile of woodchips, in a clearing on the site. Sarah Lufler, the executive director for the eastern Connecticut habitat branch, said the site has been vacant for 40 years. Around them were stumps from trees that have already been cleared, and assorted debris, including a tire and an old bedframe. Lufler and other officials said they will use the 0.24-acre 150 Palmer Street and 0.35-acre 152 Palmer Street parcels to build identical 12,000-square-foot raised-ranch style homes with three bedrooms, one bathroom and a driveway. The construction of the new properties is being made possible in part by $625,000 in federal funding Courtney secured through the American Rescue Plan Act. The debris and tree stumps will be removed, along with a foundation present on the 150 Palmer Street parcel. There's also a significant amount of rock on the site, in the way of where the driveways will be built. Herr said that rock would begin to be blasted away on Thursday, with Construction Superintendent Norm Eccleston adding they will clear 6-8 feet of rock on the sides of the driveways. Lufler said at a time when the price of building materials is being driven up by tariffs placed on Canadian lumber and steel, she expects the homes will cost about $180,000 each to build, not including costs to clean up the site. The 150 Palmer Street home will be sold to a family making between 45-50% of the area median income (AMI), which is $107,000 for New London County. The larger one will be sold to a family making between 60 and 80% of the area median income. The home costs will remain restricted for 30 years, said Stacy Herr, advancement and resource development homes for Habitat for Humanity. TVCCA Executive Director Josh Kelly, whose nonprofit administers most of its programs based on income, said nowadays many people fit in those brackets. He said while the state as a whole has a lower poverty rate than the rest of the country, it's not that much lower," and the state still has a lot of work to do to reduce it. "I mean, these are people who have gone to school, who have master's degrees, who are duly qualified in their fields — hard-working — who still are going to be able to qualify at 80% AMI," he said. Meanwhile, someone making less than 50% of the area median income home could be anyone from a minimum-wage earner to a public schoolteacher. He said even with the state having done work to raise the minimum wage, "there are a lot of circumstances that can lead someone to be under 50% AMI, and it's a lot more common than you think." Jason Martin, director of community services for TVCCA, said compounding the problem of how difficult is to own a home is the fact that someone in a family with a high income can have other issues. "It's the cost of everything it takes to have a family," he said. "And everything's so much more expensive now. And you know, expenses are going up and incomes aren't. So, I think people's perspectives of what's a solid income 10, 15 years ago, it's not the same now. Courtney was thankful that the site was now being repurposed for affordable places to live, which he said is an issue near the top of the list of people's concerns today. Lufler said since 1987, Habitat for Humanity of Eastern Connecticut has built or remodeled 111 homes in its service area and has served more than 120 households. Some people who lived in those 111 Habitat homes have since moved out, which is why there are more families than homes. Herr said Habitat for Humanity of Eastern Connecticut currently has 50 more homes in the pipeline, including a 38-home project in Ledyard she said will be the largest Habitat project in the state, three duplex homes in New London and another home in Norwich. Those projects do not have a start date yet, she said.
