The housing affordability crisis in the Huntsville metropolitan area continues to grow, according to the Habitat for Humanity chapter that serves the area.

Jeremy Foulks, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of the River Valley, offers his organization’s waiting lists as proof.

There are more than 500 families on the waiting list in Madison County. Another 100 are on the list in Limestone County, which is part of the metro.

“We haven’t even opened up the door in Jackson County yet,” Foulks said of the third county that has been added to the area.

Both the Madison County and Limestone County lists have grown so large, they’ve been cut off. Habitat for Humanity’s home repair program that was started a couple of years ago has been frozen as well.

“We’ve got 10 or 15 families on a waiting list for that as well,” he said. “We’re at the end of the funding for some of that. We’ve got a little bit of funding coming in for home repairs. We want to keep that going. We’re looking for new partnerships.”

Just a few years ago, Foulks said the organization was able to get to every family on the list if they qualified for a home.

“Anybody who came through and got qualified, got into a home,” he said.

The lists for homes have grown because the cost of renting and buying a home has grown in the fastest growing large city and two of the fastest growing counties in the state in Limestone and Madison counties.

According to the Waller, Weeks and Johnson Rental Index through the Alabama Center for Real Estate, the average rent in the Huntsville metropolitan area was $1,426 per month as of March, the third highest in the state behind Tuscaloosa and Daphne.

According to ValleyMLS data, the median sales price in Huntsville in March was $327,000. In Athens, the sales price was $310,000.

“High rent, issues with landlords fixing things, that’s what we’re seeing,” said Anissa Hillman, Habitat’s affordable housing program manager. “We have people living with family who can’t afford a place of their own. They’re living with their mother. They are having to split up the kids. This opportunity helps them bring that family back together at a lower mortgage.”

“The apartment complex, they didn’t want to fix anything,” said Rebecca Fazzingo, who moved into a Habitat home with her son Richard Turner on Lake Drive in north Huntsville on Saturday. “The air conditioner went out. The utility bill was $448 a month.”

She and her son can expect a house payment between $600 to $650 a month, including property taxes and home insurance. Their 30-year mortgage is interest free and only includes the cost to build the home and purchase the land, Foulks said.

Fazzingo raised five children in an apartment complex. She looks forward to her older children and 10 grandchildren coming to visit her and Richard in their new home.

The qualifications

Candidates for a Habitat home must be living in substandard or poverty housing. Partnership is the second criteria. They must put in what Foulks calls “300 sweat equity hours.”

He said Habitat families are working with other nonprofits such as Manna House, Salvation Army, Downtown Rescue Mission, the ARC of Madison County and the Humane Society.

They also put in 100 hours working on their own home alongside between 10 to 20 volunteers.

Habitat homeowners must also go through several hours of homeowner education. That includes financial literacy, community development, a mortgage class because there is a mortgage with each home and a landscaping class.

The final criteria is the ability to afford the home.

“It was a long journey, but it was worth it,” Fazzingo said. “Many classes, financial class … We’ve done a lot of volunteer work, a lot.”

Home construction costs rising

The ability to provide affordable housing for families who qualify is becoming more of a challenge, Foulks said.

Habitat for Humanity of the River Valley has a budget of a little more than $4 million.

“The difficult part is even though we are raising more money, the cost of building these homes have significantly increased,” Foulks said. “Pre-Covid, these houses would cost us between $80,000-$90,000 to build. Today, we budget about $137,000 to build these homes.”

He attributes part of the increase to the cost of building materials which has risen because of supply chain issues resulting from the pandemic. Foulks said Habitat’s team is forecasting up to a 15% increase in construction costs from tariffs put in place by the Trump administration after talking with suppliers.

But the biggest challenge is finding the land to purchase for the homes, Foulks said. He said the organization has received offers from people wishing to donate land, but often the land is in an area that is prone to flooding.

This fiscal year, Habitat will have 16 houses at some point under construction, either starting, in the middle or wrapping up.

“In this street, four (families) have already moved in,” Foulks said of the neighborhood on Lake Drive where all of the homes are Habitat homes. “We’ll have 32 homes in this community when we’re done with it.”

Habitat completed 11 homes last year.

“This staff and volunteers are doing amazing work,” Foulks said. “The past two years, we’ve brought on a new home repair program. They’ve done 20 plus home repairs already this year. Last year, we took on Jackson County. We’ve finished our first home repairs there. We have our first house in Athens going up now, and it is nearing completion.”

In addition to volunteers, Foulks credits 39 corporate sponsors and other donors, as well as the city of Huntsville’s Community Development Department, which has helped Habitat find grant funding to fund home construction.