Mission: Possible

Guest Blog entry by Austin Habitat's new VP of Development, Georgia Thomsen. 

I’ll be celebrating my four month anniversary at Austin Habitat next week and I’m never been happier. Why?

My close friend and mentor, Steven Tomlinson, once gave me some wonderful advice. “Georgia,” he said. “You should only take a job for three reasons. One: It will provide you with an opportunity to learn something new Two: It will provide you the opportunity to be around, and learn from, people who are smarter than you or Three: It fills your spirit and gives you joy”

I have been raising money for non-profits in Austin since 2007. And I can tell you there are a lot of wonderful organizations and causes in this town. I’ve been privileged to work for some of the most innovative, well respected and productive non-profits in this community. But without a doubt, none of them come close to my experience working at Austin Habitat for Humanity.

Learning something new:

I knew a little about Austin’s affordability issue before I came here. Anyone in this town who picks up the Statesman, or turns on the local news, knows a little bit about our housing crisis. Only three months into 2014, homes sales are up 4% and median home prices are up 7% year-over-year. All of this is happening as housing inventories have hit all-time lows. It is a tough market. But I had no idea how deep this problem runs.

In the short time I’ve been at Habitat, I’ve learned about the incredible need for affordable housing. Austin’s poverty rate is HIGHER than the national and state averages and 1 in 8 of our children live in poverty. Rentals are becoming harder to find and our families are paying more as monthly rent climbs higher and higher. It’s devastating, and the more I learn, the more passionate I become about helping.

Learning from people who are smarter than me:

There’s no doubt that Kelly Weiss, our President and CEO, is talented. She knows more about this industry than anyone else in our community. But aside from Kelly, Austin Habitat for Humanity has a passionate, and incredibly smart, Board of Directors. Their resumes are impressive:  a University of Texas finance professor, a former chairman and CEO of one of America’s largest energy refining and marketing companies, the CTO of one of Austin’s most philanthropic companies, a Texas legislator and an independent feature film producer who just showed at Sundance. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

I’m honored to be able to learn from these brilliant, passionate people.

It gives me joy:

I took this picture at my very first Habitat house dedication in January. I wish this picture could convey what we were all feeling. Five amazing families were about to have their lives changed forever. Their hard work, dedication and over 300 sweat equity hours led them to this life-changing event: Home Ownership. To know I played a small part in making their dreams a reality filled me with great joy. I want to do it again. And again. And again.

Why did I choose to come to work at Habitat?

Because Steven was right. And I was lucky enough to find all three.  

Social Investing

As Austin continues to grow, by way of internal migration, pushing up the cost of housing and subsequently out of reach for many families, Austin Habitat for Humanity faces increased pressure on serving the underserved in the Austin housing market.

We all know that Austin Habitat serves via multiple programs, Home Construction, Home Repair, Housing Counseling & ReStore (Home Improvement Store) but how do we scale these programs to reach those in need.

Surrounding Home Construction, one way the organization is researching how to scale the operation is by Social Investing.  Internally at Austin Habitat we’ve referenced this term in a number of ways including Habishares, Homeshares etc, but it is essentially financing Home Construction instead of fundraising.  Traditional fundraising will always remain, and grow, but to supplement the projected growth of Home Construction we will also finance construction.  Financing could come from private investors, foundations, financial institutions etc.  In fact, we already finance some of our Home Construction by way of the Bootstrap grants we receive through the State of Texas. 

Why finance?  At a certain point we can only raise a certain amount of funds via traditional fundraising for a number of reasons – one being market saturation as many nonprofits compete for donor dollars within the Austin community.  Financing allows Austin Habitat to build a house that would otherwise not have been possible without it, and it does not affect the homeowner other than provide the needed capital to build the house.  Austin Habitat manages the financing obligations – all the homeowner needs to do is pay their regular mortgage payment the same as all Habitat homeowners.

Why haven’t we done this sooner?  As the trend and demand for Corporations to become more socially responsible, Social Investing is gaining more traction, but it takes time.  Social Investments have been in existence for many years but access to them has been a challenge.

Is financing Home Construction detrimental to Austin Habitat and what are the effects on cash flow?  No, it is not detrimental.  The financing obligation Austin Habitat pays to the investor is covered by the mortgage payment Austin Habitat receives from the homeowner.

As Austin Habitat continues to pursue Social Investing models to implement, the integrity of what we do at Austin Habitat will always remain the same.

-Mat King, Austin Habitat for Humanity Chief Financial Officer