The Economic Inefficiencies of Habitat for Humanity

[nxt1]

I recently came across some information that really got me thinking. I was a participant in my high school's habitat for humanity club and now am college student. A number of my friends have participated throughout the years in their schools' respective Habitat clubs and have then taken week long spring break trips with 20-30 of their classmates to build a house in Guatemala, Honduras, Florida, etc. Commonly they will fly out each student ~$400/student round trip. Instead of having a group of inexperienced college kids attempting to build a house (many of which have been falling apart only a few years after their completion), why do these clubs not use this money to hire MANY more local workers in one of these locations. They would create needed jobs, hire many more people- the estimated cost of sending a student on one of these trips for a week is ~$600-700 total. Many of the local residents would be willing to do this week's work for $200 or less allowing the hiring of three times as many individuals. The more skilled labor that I mentioned beforehand would allow for a more well built and trustworthy house, and money would be contributed directly to the community rather than being wasted on plane tickets.

Unfortunately, for many school groups this in an unrealistic request. The trips have turned into a sort of "tropical getaway," with the motivation for the students being more so a week on a sunny beach with their than going to help build a house. Friends of mine have returned with stories of scuba diving, jet skiing, and para-sailing, activities associated with a luxury trip to the Bahamas rather than a charitable one. The heads of these clubs argue that visiting the regions will allow the students to see for themselves the terrible conditions and make them appreciate their lives. But aren't we in a time where the acridness of the conditions can be gauged through a thirty minute news segment, a fifteen second Google search, or a trip to the local food shelter? While I am stressing Habitat for Humanity, these all are clubs that stress aiding as many people as possible, yet they forgo helping as many as sixty people to help only three and themselves. Let's stop trying to convince ourselves that we are humanitarians unless we are really willing to go at the issues head on.

See this article and others like it at econanonymous.blogspot.com

[Intelligento]

1. Interesting read

Sent my son on a habitat trip over spring break but would have been weary if I knew that I was sending him on a vacation!

[nxt1]

2. Thank you for the feedback

It is appreciated.

[Exultant Democracy]

3. I see the value in exposing young adults to volunteering, because volunteering is habit forming.

Now that being said I do think that they could probably find plenty of poor and needy people closer to home to help out and use the air fair for something more productive.

[nxt1]

8. Yes volunteering is good

But there are plenty of local volunteer options (soup kitchens, local charity groups, retirement homes) that can instill those values without large travel costs.

[MH1]

9. Habitat does local houses

maybe also international stuff - first I've heard of it - but I know they also do houses locally, I have volunteered for them.

[nxt1]

10. Some local stuff

But the "build a house" projects which are usually the main projects of the group are not local- they may be domestic (flight from Michigan to Florida), but this still requires high travel costs. International projects are also pretty common, not as much for habitat but with mission trips and other service trips.

[Intelligento]

11. Much more common with relgious mission/service trips

The point still holds though. A family friend of ours spent $1500 for his daughter to go to the DR on a 2 week long service trip.

[Suich]

41. Welcome to DU, Intelligento!

:party: :party: :party:

[bluestate10]

4. You have a wonderful idea. nt

[murrayhillfarm]

5. Yep!

I agre!

[Arctic Dave]

6. I've never heard of a high school doing this, I've heard of churches doing it.

Did you go to a religious school? I agree with your idea of hiring local workers.

Most of this type of stuff is a veiled way of doing missionary work and getting a vacation out of it.

However, I do think the more people travel the better it is for them.

[nxt1]

7. I do not

Go to a religious school. Some of the examples are taken from religious schools, however. And yes, travel is better- but traveling to Florida isn't really necessary is it? (Florida being a common destination)

[Arctic Dave]

18. Which school is doing this?

I've donated to my neighbors daughter going to Mexico for her church group, they build homes also but the main reason is I believe seeing things outside your bubble is good for you.

On the other hand, I also donate to my other neighbors daughter going to Porto Rico for her spanish immersion class. Of course that is all payed for out of their pocket and not the schools or church donations. My sig line pretty much sums up my opinion of travel for anyone.

[Hannah Bell]

12. i have wondered about habitat for various reasons.

1. why no significant effort to rehab existing housing?

2. what percent of beneficiaries eventually default, & what happens to the house? does it then go into the "free market" in real estate?

3. what affect does habitat then have on keeping re values down in poor housing markets -- or the housing markets where the poor are most likely to own?

4. where are the materials for habitat projects sourced -- donated, subsidy for private corps, ???

don't know the answers, just wondering.

[nxt1]

13. Expand on this

If you will :)

[Hannah Bell]

14. i expanded on it as much as i'm able to. just questions, which amount to:

what is the benefit of habitat for private interests?

[struggle4progress]

25. Based on my experience with the local Habitat:

(1) Rehab can be a lot harder than new construction. The group I used to volunteer with regularly did some rehab work, and it wasn't always fun
(2) Defaults aren't common. I know one place, that I worked on, was trashed by the inhabitants, who stopped paying. Habitat repo'd and rehabbed and then put another family in it. There's a fairly rigorous selection process, and most people are happy to get a home with a reasonable payment. Moreover, the folk getting the house have to do some work on it before taking possession, so there's a buy-in aspect
(3) I worked with a group that built in some of the worst neighborhoods in town. The game was to improve the neighborhoods. One neighborhood I once worked in was mostly condemned properties and crackhouses; the street we were building on had the highest murder rate in town. At that time, the Habitat houses were the best houses in a bad neighborhood, but then the neighborhood turned around and gradually gentrified; now the Habitat houses are the low-end houses in a good neighborhood. So property values have gone up, and I expect the values of the modest little Habitat houses climbed with the others
(4) When I last asked this question, property was usually the most expensive part of the puzzle and was usually donated. Much of the construction material was purchased, but not all: we often used old donated paint, for example, for undercoat

[Hannah Bell]

31. thanks for the info on your experience.

there are lots (well, 5) of habitat houses in my roughly 1/2 mile square neighborhood.

i can't say they've really improved the neighborhood, any more than the new private-built homes have (about half of which are empty).

it's because most of the people in my neighborhood are poor. within a block radius there are about 5 foreclosures, half of which have been empty for more than a year.

i'm just not seeing the point of the habitat houses going into the few remaining empty lots that used to have old fruit trees.

[kristopher]

15. What are the alternatives?

The alternatives offered in the OP are to either 1) send the young people on an educational expedition that not only offer immediate help to some in need but is also oriented around creating lifelong values that support such efforts with their personal participation, or 2) motivate the parents throw money at an unseen, little understood and distant problem through some unknown mechanism - presumably solicitations channeled through their children.

There is a third alternative that has been omitted - do nothing; which is more likely the eventual outcome of the second choice.

This is a good example of confusing a tool (economics) with the values that direct how a tool should be used.

[nxt1]

16. Why not

Have local students face local problems- there are plenty of places for Chicago students to help out IN Chicago rather than fly to Florida. There are also plenty of students IN Florida to help out with house-building in their own state. As far as international aid is concerned, I do think money should be sent there. A lot of these clubs have fund-raising projects throughout the entire year, and almost all of it goes toward paying for costly flights and accommodations. Send this money to Haiti, DR, Ecuador instead. If it comes down to "donate money so we can fly down to Haiti to help earthquake victims" or "donate money so we can send it to Haiti to help out the earthquake victims" I'd choose number 2 in a heartbeat, though this also raises the question of where this money is going to exactly, etc.

[kristopher]

20. It's easy to argue anything

when you just ignore what was said, isn't it?

[nxt1]

21. I think I just illustrated what I believe to be better alternatives

[kristopher]

22. If that's what you think that is good then.

Sounds a lot like mental masturbation to me though.

[nxt1]

23. Cool story

[Brickbat]

17. I figure the benefit of high schoolers going on a Habitat trip is to give them a topic for their

college application essay. It's totally inefficient and, IMO, does little to establish a habit of volunteering.

[nxt1]

19. Yes but

How do you explain college students partaking in the same sorts of trips? And I completely agree with your first statement

[csziggy]

24. Sometimes the volunteers later are monetary contributors

I've known several different types of people that have volunteered for Habitat for Humanity. One volunteered through his church and they sent groups to various places in the US to assist local Habitat drives to start or complete houses. He also was a volunteer leader for building or rehabbing houses locally. Since then he retired as a contractor and was hired by Habitat as a local coordinator.

My niece as part of her college's Semester at Sea - a semester long cruise around the world - worked on Habitat projects in Costa Rica, South Africa, and India. The students on the cruise took college courses while at sea but at nearly every port volunteered for local projects as part of their course work in International Studies. My niece went on to get a Master's in International Studies at George Washington University and is now working for a NGO - I am not sure which one at the moment. The volunteer projects are designed to engage the students and to demonstrate the needs in various places around the globe.

An online acquaintance volunteered for a Habitat project in Mexico that was coordinated by her church. The church members (50-60 people) took the church bus to the location, camped out while there, worked under the supervision of the local Habitat group leaders, and simply provided extra labor. That church established a sister city association with the town there and they contribute money, goods, and volunteers for various projects in the town.

A wealthy woman I know volunteers weekly at the local Habitat for Humanity office and provide assistance with management of their store where they sell donated materials they cannot use in their houses. The paid employees at the store are generally people who have gotten houses or who are trying to qualify for houses. She told me she makes sure she is not doing any job that would go to someone who needs the pay check. She also donates massive amounts of money to Habitat for Humanity.

While some of the efforts may be token volunteerism, many, many people who do it are not tokens but are doing very real good.

[bbgrunt]

26. the cultural enrichment of those who

participate in these projects overseas is cheap at twice the price. The people in this country really need to see the rest of the world and realize that they are a part of a greater whole. Once the international travel barrier has been breached, people are much more likely to do it again later. This is a good thing.

It is especially good that people are really learning about life outside the luxury travel destinations.

Spending two years in the Peace Corps is more about American education and development of international understanding than the particular projects they engage in. Yes, they provide some important help, but that is secondary--not insignificant, but secondary.

So while you may be concerned about a narrow definition of "efficiency", like so many worthwhile endeavors, the true benefits are nearly impossible to quantify to justify those very quantifiable costs.

[girl gone mad]

27. Not everything should be run with profit incentive in mind.

There are many good reasons to have American volunteers participate in a charity vacation. Not least of which would be the lifetime bond formed between the volunteer and the organization. This would also be a learning experience for the student and a chance to improve our image abroad. Americans also benefit more when American workers are paid than when foreign workers are paid, since the money flows back into our economy.

[Shagbark Hickory]

28. I was unable to find the article on your blog but are you 100% H4H is paying those expenses?

I find that hard to believe.

[nxt1]

29. It is the first blog post

Regardless, in terms of travel costs (airfare) Habitat does pay for airfare with the fund-raising they do throughout the year.

[Shagbark Hickory]

30. OK, had to click "older posts". I'm still a skeptic. Help me out here.

I'm having trouble in 2 areas.

1.) That h4h is indeed paying these expenses. If you have some kind of brochure or something thats says the trip is free, that would help.
2.) $400 for expenses sounds unrealistically low. You can't even fly one way to those places for $400, let alone round trip plus other expenses.

But here's something else to think about, lets say for a second, h4h DID pay the students' expenses. I'm not convinced they are, but lets say for a second that they are...

If they have a steady stream of students coming in, isn't that stimulating the local economy more than a short term construction job will?
What they would pay the local workers in one day, is probably a lot less than what the students will spend (even with their own money) while they are in that area, wouldn't you agree?

Think of it as a tourist destination for higher-educated would be construction workers. Someone's gotta feed them.

[nxt1]

32. Response to your questions- i think

Usually a trip to Costa Rica/Jamaica/Florida/Cuba is ~400 round trip maybe 5 maybe 6. My fiance is part of a local habitat group and her individual cost of a week long trip during college to the DR was going to be $100. I don't think these are publicly advertised so unfortunately I am unable to provide any sort of brochure. The groups stay in either campsites/hostiles/free lodging and usually stock up on food in the US, so any money that could go into the economy in those forms is wiped out. Honestly the amount a dollar can go in these under-developer nations is pretty incredible- they could pay the workers (in Cuba for example) $10 america/week and it would be largely more than they would make otherwise.

[Shagbark Hickory]

39. By airplane?!?! Or by raft?

By raft, I can see that.
By airplane, not a chance. Not even to florida. The fees alone are nearly $50 now.
And you can't fly directly to Cuba which means another expensive transfer in another country.

[struggle4progress]

44. Typically the volunteers pay the trip costs, including their airfare

Each Habitat Global Village volunteer pays a fee that is used in the following ways: Building program ... Volunteer logistics ... Volunteer team coordination ... Health and safety ... The trip cost does not include ... Participant air fare. Rest and recreation activities beyond local cultural activities. Visa and exit fees ... Trip Cancellation Insurance ... http://www.habitat.org/gv/tripcost.aspx

Global Village trip costs vary ... Estimates for a 9- to 14-day trip, excluding air fare ... Africa: $1,900–$2,400. Asia and South America: $1,650–$2,350. Central America/Caribbean: $1,275–$1,550. Europe and Central Asia: $1,825–$2,500 ... http://www.habitat.org/gv/factsheet_international.aspx

[bobbolink]

33. HABITAT takes more resources from the community than it returns to the people it is "serving".

I see this locally, and have been appalled.

I thought that is what your post was about.

I do wish someone would do an expose' on this. It is nice to see an elderly former President wielding a hammer, but the results don't live up to that image. :(

If you ever come across that kind of information about domestic Habitat, I'd really like to see it.

Thanks... you have dug up some important info! :hi:

[nxt1]

34. No problem

And a great suggestion! I will continue to do a bit of research on the group and see what I can find.

[bobbolink]

36. I would appreciate that very much, and Welcome To DU!

:bounce: :toast: :party: :hi: :bounce: :toast: :party: :hi: :bounce: :toast: :party: :hi: :bounce: :toast: :party: :hi: :bounce: :toast: :party: :hi: :bounce:

Just so you know -- that info will raise the ire of many here, but I think we need to know this about Habitat.

:yourock:

[Book Lover]

35. Can you share what you've seen?

I'm very interested in hearing what you've seen happen. I don't know much about the group myself, so first-hand experience would be helpful.

[bobbolink]

37. Thank you for asking. It will probably get me skewered, but I will tell you my experience here.

I live in a smaller area... not a big city and not rural, but an affluent bedroom community. There is a LOT of money here and also a lot of people who have been priced out of housing, but work here.

Homelessness is not unknown here, but it isn't something that people care about (pretty much like the rest of the country. :( )

The local Habitat has at least two-full-time paid positions, and is crowing that in 20 years, they have built 22 homes! I wish I had the figures on how much money they get donated to them, but you can imagine.. they have an office and employees, so they have spent a LOT of money for 22 homes!

It doesn't even BEGIN to touch the need, but the important fact here is that the popular misconception is that because Habitat has built 22 homes, that there isn't a need for real low-income housing. THAT is the part I want you to recognize. They aren't fulfilling the need, not by a long shot, but the perception is that they are.

[MH1]

40. I never had the perception that Habitat is 'fulfilling the need' for low income housing

but that doesn't mean I think they don't make a positive contribution.

It may not be the most efficient use of funds but it is what some people have chosen to do as a contribution. At least they are trying. That is far better than those who don't even try, or worse yet, fund organizations that actively try to hurt people (like the right wing). And, they create volunteer opportunities for young people that I think broaden the horizons of those people and hopefully make them more compassionate.

Yeah it would be nice if everybody made their contributions to the most effective mechanism. And no one should ever think that these charities fill the need, because they don't - all anyone has to do is walk down a street or two of a typical city to know that.

I don't recall ever getting anything from Habitat where they claimed to be 'fulfilling the need' either.

[bobbolink]

43. So, it is OK with you for them to take the community resources that COULD be used for low-income

housing, and leaving so many people without while the community has the perception that the need is being met?

Which ends up with BLAME for those who are left without, and especially for those who are homeless?

[MH1]

45. Why does the community think the need is being met? Who is lying to them?

I have not seen Habitat for Humanity lie about it. So who is?

And, what 'community resources' does Habitat take, other than individual contributions and volunteers that might not be offered to other programs?

[bobbolink]

46. They take huge donations! Did you NOT read what I have written about this?

THEY ARE PAYING AT LEAST TWO FULL-TIME EMPLOYEEES, PLUS OFFICE RENT.

I get that you think they are fine, and any word to the contrary is going to be rejected. I get that.

However, too many poor people are going without housing, and this must be changed. I get that that isn't important to "progressives", but it is time for the truth to come out.

[MH1]

47. Convince the people giving those donations to give instead to the programs

that you feel are more worthy.

That's all you have to do.

[bobbolink]

48. Right. People actually listen to homeless people. I'm sure yousee that right here on DU.

Of course, "progressives" can't be bothered to work for REAL low-income housing, instead of projects that make *THEM* feel good.

Of course, "progressives" cn't be bothered to be part of the education. NO, they tell homeless and poor people to do it all....... ALONE.

And then wonder why they don't get the votes they want.

You have demonstrated the reaction that homeless people get by SPEAKING THE FACTS.

I thank you for illustraing the problem.

[nxt1]

38. I'd be interested to read about your experience as well

[bobbolink]

42. I did reply, and hope you will look for it. I will also add... there is a HUGE need for low-income

housing.

There is a desparate need for 9 million units, with only 6 million units available. That need is NOT going down.. it is growing.

When someone takes over a Habitat house, they are allowed to sell it, at a profit sometimes, so then that is one low-income unit that is GONE. Unlike public housing, it doesn't remain as low-income housing. It is sold at market rate.

People are in desparate need, and it is getting worse. There is a DU thread about a public housing building that was destroyed in Tucscaloosa. It will NOT be replaced. HABITAT will do NOTHING to house those people. :(

[nxt1]

49. Thank you

Very sad indeed

[mfcorey1]

50. Habitat for Humanity is a wonderful organization but a friend's daughter has had a terrible

experience. The purchase of her home fell within the time that consumers were given rebates for first time home buyers. There were several of the homes built in the development and she moved in along with others who qualified. There was a ceremony with the sponsors, media coverage, etc. However, more than a year after moving in she has not received closing papers. The delay by Habitat caused her to miss the first time buyers rebate. There seems to be no explanation for the delay in paperwork. The mortgage payments are on time and there seem to be no obstacles. but the closing papers have never been finalized.