Building on history

COEUR d'ALENE - Happy anniversary Habitat.

It's been 20 years since the nonprofit Habitat for Humanity of North Idaho began building affordable houses in Kootenai County, and to celebrate the feat the local chapter is, well, building houses.

"We don't have anything planned yet," said Marci Schreiber, executive director, on a possible shindig for reaching the milestone. "Maybe we can work something in with a volunteer celebration."

It would be fitting.

Volunteers, including area high school students though its Learn to Earn program, are the lifeblood for the organization that has been constructing homes for low income families in the area since 1991.

So far, they've built 33 in all on the blood, sweat and tears of those who give their time and backs.

And Tuesday wasn't an exception.

Several volunteers spent the day nailing, plotting and painting its latest model - a 1,050-square-foot, three-bedroom home in the Hamilton Woods subdivision off 12th Street and Hazel Avenue.

The home will be dedicated May 21. But before it is, the nonprofit will already be under way on a similar home across the driveway. In all, four homes will complete the subdivision, named after longtime former volunteer Jim Hamilton.

"Even though the economy is in the tank, and the construction industry is even worse, I think, we're still building homes, and that's great," said Greg Nowak, construction director, working on the house on Tuesday. "There's a huge need in town."

The homes go to qualifying families who earn 30 to 50 percent of the area median income, or around $15,000 to $25,000 a year: Families who might not otherwise be able to afford them can have one for around $400 a month.

And in its 20th year, Habitat for Humanity is adding a new program, 'A Brush with Kindness,' which will do exterior repairs for low-income families who already own homes.

"To be able to bring that kind of stability in their life is great," Schreiber said. "It makes a huge a difference."

It's the only house the nonprofit built in 2010, below its goal of three a year - a goal it intends to meet again in the future.

While volunteers worked Tuesday, Century-21 Beutler and Associates released the latest Multiple Listing Service report for home sales in the area.

That report found that home sales are up across the county from January through February 2011, compared to the same time last year. But the average and median prices are down 8 and 11 percent, respectively.

That shift could be due to the amount of distressed sales such as foreclosures on the market, said Pete Faust, certified residential specialist with the company.

A positive trend, however, is that this time last year sales were helped by a first-time homebuyer exemption that was on the books until April. This year, sales are up without the exemption, so activity is climbing heading into the busier summer season.

"The good news is the sales are continuing, and the market hasn't crashed," he said, calling the overall market "mediocre healthy."

"It's not a great recovery for what people are hoping for but nobody was predicting it this early in the year anyway," he said.

For Paul Hubik, the economy would have priced him out of a home if it weren't for Habitat for Humanity.

The part-time janitor spent Tuesday working on the new Hamilton Woods home with the nonprofit organization that has been doing just that for two decades.

Once the subdivision is built out, he too will have a house all his own.

"I'll be excited," Hubik said about leaving his Coeur d'Alene apartment for a home.