Southeast New Hampshire Habitat for Humanity
Serving Portsmouth, Newington and Strafford County

Southeast New Hampshire Habitat for Humanity executive director Paul Lagarde says he has 415 volunteers "chomping at the bit" to start work on a Habitat project at any given time, but everything hinges on the preliminaries: acquiring affordable land and conforming with the special requirements of local zoning boards.

The most recent survey (2002) from the National Association of Home Builders ranked the Portsmouth-Rochester area as having the 10th least affordable housing in the country. The survey revealed that the average family income for this area is $56,000, compared to an average home price of $230,000. What this means is just 23.4 percent of the homes in the region are affordable to families earning the median income, the study said.

The local Habitat chapter has found great promise in a project called Berry Court in Farmington. The chapter plans to build homes for people who can't afford the prices of Seacoast real estate and are willing to volunteer their own labor toward the construction or renovation of a home on one of four adjacent plots of land.

But the Berry Court project has been in the works awhile. Several years ago, Habitat raised the money to buy the land. "We purchased the lot at a reasonable price" -- Lagarde didn't divulge the price Habitat paid -- "and asked for a variance to build four homes on that lot," he said in a recent interview.

Since last September, Lagarde has been executive director of the Southeast New Hampshire Habitat for Humanity, one of 13 Habitat affiliates in the state.

Lagarde, whose job hours are officially 20 a week, works overtime locating affordable land for building houses, cooperating with municipal officials, supportive tradesmen and suppliers, meeting with families who are seeking low-cost homes and relating to more than 400 enthusiastic building volunteers.

The minimum lot size for Berry Court, which is in an urban residential zone, is one-half an acre, according to Farmington's zoning office.

"The variance was to build (or move an existing house) four homes onto minimum lot sizes of 5,500 square feet," Lagarde said.

"But the stipulation on the variance is that we install a cul-de-sac with a drainage pipe under it, to be built to town specifications of gravel and hottop," Lagarde said. "The purpose is to bring water and sewer lines from Route 153 all the way into the lot and connect them to the existing water lines on Berry Court.

"Also, a fire hydrant had to be installed at the edge of the cul-de-sac for fire protection," Lagarde said, "plus we had to build a swale connected to the drain pipe running under the cul-de-sac all the way to Route 153 and connect it to an existing state drainage pipe."

A swale is a low-lying or depressed and often wet stretch of land.

"It's very, very expensive," Lagarde said. "A great drain on our budget."

Lagarde said that back then he talked to someone at the 368th Engineering Battalion of the Army Reserve in Rochester. "They agreed to bring their people and equipment on weekends and do all the infrastructure at no charge. But around three weeks later the Iraq War broke out and all that equipment went to Iraq.

"As recent as four weeks ago," Lagarde said in mid-June, "the sergeant said they still had no equipment whatsoever, not even a rake.

"Needless to say, we have been saddled with this huge expense," Lagarde said. "But we're not giving up on this. No way. It's a challenge, but we're going to lick it."

Lagarde said the Farmington zoning board has been very receptive to Habitat for Humanity. He called the stipulations of the variance "understandable."

Not only Farmington, he said, but all the communities in the Southeast Habitat's area have been "absolutely phenomenal -- not only receptive but helpful."

"In days of old -- the mid-90s -- you could go to Town Hall and say, 'Do you have something you have taken back for taxes?' and we could buy the properties for a dollar," Lagarde said.

The dollar purchase price may be a thing of the past, but Lagarde still hopes cities and towns in Strafford County will keep Southeast New Hampshire Habitat for Humanity in mind if they have a condemned property available.

According to the Southeast New Hampshire Habitat for Humanity web site, Habitat for Humanity International brings families and communities in need together with volunteers and resources to build decent, affordable homes for those who need it.

Currently a Habitat house in the United States costs an average of $48,537, the web site says, with a monthly mortgage of $300.

Since 1976, Habitat has built more than 100,000 houses in more than 80 countries including around 30,000 houses across the United States.

The Southeast New Hampshire affiliate was founded in 1990, incorporated in 1992 and has completed 12 homes in Dover, Gonic, Northwood, Rochester, Somersworth and Farmington.

"Land prices in New Hampshire are very high," New Hampshire Housing Finance authority Claira Monier said in another recent interview. "They are going up annually."

"It is difficult for Habitat for Humanity to buy 3, 4 or five acres. Land costs should be about 20 to 25 percent of the cost of the house," Monier said. "So if you are buying a lot for $100,000, the house would ordinarily be $400,000 to $500,000 to start with. Habitat targets lower-income people, and families who really need housing for all the right reasons.

"And even if everything is donated," Monier said, "you can't always find land that's zoned appropriately."

Builders can't afford to invest in small capes and ranch houses, Monier said. They have to build a mansion to get their money back.

But Habitat for Humanity isn't in business to get its money back. Lagarde says donations of money and services and equipment for the Berery Street project are "absolutely phenomenal."

"Plumbers, electricians, excavators, landscapers donate their equipment," Lagarde said. "I have a plumber who will be providing rough materials and labor at no charge and a furnace manufacturer who will be donating a heating system for a home.