An ongoing housing shortage is affecting Bloomington-Normal in various ways, and even organizations dedicated to the effort are feeling the impact.
Habitat for Humanity of McLean County builds homes for low-income families and families in need. Executive Director Jolene Aldus said the waiting list for houses is growing, and so is the need for more affordable housing.
She added that the nonprofit is hoping to build its 200th home in 2024.
Aldus spoke to WGLT about her goals for the year.
Interview edited for clarity.
WGLT: You've been in this role since September, so new to the job. What have you accomplished so far, and what are the immediate goals that you still have?
Aldus: I am new to the role, and prior to my executive director role I spent about a year as the development director. I really spent that time — which really wasn't that long ago — learning the organization, learning the operation, building relationships with our volunteers, our staff, and our supporters. So in this role, I'm just kind of doing more of the same. I'm doing a deeper dive, and my immediate goals are to really educate myself a little bit more. It's a very multi-layered organization and operation, so I'm focusing on education for myself so that I can continue to educate and be a good leader to our team because, without them, we can't do what we do.
With that in mind, coming off of 2023, what would you say were some of the organization's biggest accomplishments?
Aldus: There's a lot to celebrate from 2023. Like I said, I spent some time in the development role and then transitioned to the executive director role, and throughout that entire time in 2023, we reached some pretty big milestones. Our Women Build chapter celebrated its 20th year, which is its 20th home that it was has been able to build for a family for a local family. That was a big accomplishment. We also broke ground on our very first duplex, our multifamily unit. So we were able to serve more families at one time, with a lot that we had large enough to do so. So that was a big accomplishment, as well as our first fully accessible ranch home that we were able to build this year. And we had our first fully sponsored health care house, which was sponsored by Carle BroMenn, so a lot to celebrate.
Where can people look to see Habitat for Humanity's impact?
Aldus: If you're looking to see where the houses are, that we build, they are anywhere in McLean County. You can go to our website, and you can see the nearly 200 homes that we have built over the past almost 40 years now. But specifically, the majority of where you can see our homes are on the west side of Bloomington. We do have a handful in Normal. We have a couple out in rural areas like LeRoy, but primarily the west side of Bloomington is where you can see where our houses are built.
Another impact that — sort of an indirect impact — is at our ReStore on Washington (Street in Bloomington). So the ReStore, if you're not familiar with it, is a retail store that resells donated household items and construction items from residential and, or commercial donors. So you can go there, it's a giant warehouse, some have said with no disrespect, it's just a giant garage sale. So you can see the impact made there because the proceeds from the ReStore actually help us build the homes that we build. But it's also serving a community that otherwise might not have the opportunity to buy certain household items. So we sell them at a deep discount.
How many houses would you say — and it probably varies by year — but on average that Habitat for Humanity is building?
Aldus: We will, fingers crossed, reach our 200th home this year in 2024. We are slated to build number 198, 199 and 200. And being around for almost 40 years, we celebrate our 40th next year. So that averages out to be about five per year, and that's pretty good. So this year, we did build five. Next year, we really only have the means to build three. So we're not heading in the right direction, and that's the kind of the support we need is to be able to get back up to that average of five.
Heading into 2024, what is on the docket, expanding on those goals other than the three homes?
Aldus: We're launching our 200 for 200 campaign. So we're seeking to raise around $200,000 so that we can complete that 200th home. Then we're gonna roll into our 40th year and I'm not sure what that will bring, but my goal as the executive director is to really just focus on the quality of the home. These are very well-built homes, but the quality of service we're providing the families, the experience that they're receiving, the quality of leadership I can provide the staff, in the volunteers, and any of the supporters. So I'll focus on quality versus quantity, let's say, I would ultimately like to at least build one more home than we did the previous year. So we'll just kind of start small and walk before we run.
You mentioned donations. Are there any other ways that people in the community can get involved?
Aldus: If you can't or don't have the means to do a monetary support, there are a lot of other creative ways to give, which you could also find on our website, like shopping at Kroger or shopping at Walmart. There are some programs there that allow you to kind of round up your change or get back in that way. The ReStore is a main one, so if you don't have the ability to help financially, you can at least donate your items to the ReStore because we will resell those and those proceeds go back into our housing initiatives.
Was there anything I did not ask about that you wanted to add that people should know about?
Aldus: I would be remiss if I didn't say or mention that without lots and land we can't build. Without that, we can't do what we do. We get much of our land donated by estate planning or estate gifts or planned giving. Also in partnership with the city and the town for infill. So we have a lot of good resources in that regard, but I just want to make mention that with that we're actually able to produce tax revenue for the city and the town, which is good, because that helps them put that money back into their housing initiatives locally. All that to say is the impact goes beyond the families we serve. We're actually helping build a more prosperous community.
