Despite recent changes in funding, the Albion College chapter of Habitat for Humanity continues to build homes for Albion’s less fortunate.  

Former Albion College President Peter T. Mitchell ensured that Habitat received an additional $10,000 out of the President’s Office budget for every house construction project since 2000. However, after the announcement of his impending retirement in 2006, that stipend was eliminated, according to Staci Eads, Dearborn senior and departing Albion Habitat president.  

Tom Hunsdorfer, assistant to the president, said this decision was made partially because of the college’s tight budget situation and also in part because it was unfair to provide funding to some student service projects but not others.   

“We certainly miss that money, but it hasn’t handicapped us,” said Bob Armstrong, building supervisor for Albion Habitat and former professor of chemistry. “Peter managed to give us that money while the college budget was running a deficit, and it was incredibly generous of him – he just couldn’t afford to do it any longer.”  

Eads plans to meet with Albion president Donna Randall to discuss the possibility of reinstating presidential funding.

“A major focus of President Randall’s vision is reaching out to the community,” said Eads. “How better to do that than through Habitat for Humanity?”  

Hunsdorfer said President Randall appreciates the contribution Habitat makes to the relationship between the college and the community, but that the presidential grant is unlikely to be reinstated.

“President Randall believes that Student Senate, private fund-raising initiatives, and grants from organizations like Michigan Campus Compact are the most appropriate sources of financial support for Habitat for Humanity and similar student service organizations,” said Hunsdorfer. 

Albion Habitat undertakes an average of one house construction project every two years and is now one of the most prolific traditional construction organizations in the city, according to Armstrong. Upon completion, the homes are sold to local families who are selected to meet certain criteria, established by Habitat International. 

“Basically, we select families who have a low enough income that they can’t get a conventional mortgage, but a high enough income to still pay for the house,” Armstrong said. “Families make a single interest-free monthly payment for taxes, insurance and mortgage, which is managed by Habitat.” 

Armstrong estimates each completed house is worth $65,000. A grant made to Habitat by the Michigan Housing Authority leaves each resident family only responsible for $55,000 with zero interest over 20 years, which will be used primarily in future construction projects.  

In addition, the selected families are required to invest 500 hours of “sweat equity,” or physical labor, in the construction of their house, according to Armstrong. About 1,000 hours of student labor alone goes into each build. 

In 2006, Albion Habitat integrated with the Battle Creek affiliate of Habitat for Humanity, according to Alfredia Dysart-Drake, director of operations for Battle Creek. In addition to providing Albion Habitat’s construction projects with a much larger cache of material resources, the merger allowed Albion Habitat to engineer a new way to save money.  

The $3,500 grant Albion Habitat receives from student senate every semester could be donated to the Battle Creek affiliate, which would hold the money to be reimbursed for use on Albion’s next construction project. In this manner, an additional $14,000 could be “stored” and spent on each house, while meeting student senate’s requirement that the money be used within the semester in which it was granted. 

“Unfortunately, we can’t do that anymore,” said Torrey Lomas, Holland junior and incoming co-president of Albion Habitat. “This year, student senate requires receipts to show what we did with the money before it writes the check.”  

This means that while Habitat is currently involved in the construction process, the money it receives from student senate can be immediately spent on materials. However, members of Albion Habitat’s executive board are unsure whether they will continue to receive senate funding during the period after the completion of the current house, but before the next construction project begins.

Student senate is in charge of allocating funds from the Student Activities Fee, to which every Albion student contributes through tuition. CFO and chair of the student senate appropriations committee Craig Stangland, Fort Wayne, IN junior, had no comment when asked about future Habitat funding. 

Albion Habitat’s current project, a two-story house on Cherry Street, has been in progress since last July and is projected to be completed in fall 2008, according to Armstrong.

This house will be the sixth completed with the help of student labor in Albion Habitat’s 12-year history, though eight others have been built in recent years through collaborations between Habitat International and local organizations like the United Methodist Church. 

A high percentage of materials used in Habitat’s construction process are donated by private businesses, and many organizations offer to help supplement labor, said Eads. All major appliances in the Cherry Street house were donated by Whirlpool, and its walls were constructed by Jackson Prison. Though sometimes Habitat uses land donated by private citizens, it usually builds on lots designated for urban renewal by the city of Albion upon which existing structures have been demolished, according to Armstrong. 

“[The city] sells us the land for free, but at the cost of constructing a house,” Armstrong said. “It then benefits from the property taxes paid by the new owners. Everybody wins.”