A big yellow excavator scooped dirt — with gravel scraping and screeching through its treads — getting to work Thursday morning.
Habitat for Humanity of Springfield held a ceremonial groundbreaking for phase 3 of its Legacy Trails subdivision on the northwest side of town.
Among the speakers at the event was Harlan Johnson, a pastor with Springfield's Life.Church.
"Lord Jesus," Johnson prayed with a few dozen attendees, "we just come to you right now, and we just pray your blessing over this neighborhood. We are thankful for the work that Habitat for Humanity is doing and thankful, God, for affordable housing for people.”
Habitat got started with Legacy Trails back in 2006. Since then, the nonprofit and its partner families have built 39 homes at the site.
Now, with the help of $475,000 in federal American Rescue Plan funding, Habitat is building 15 more homes — a project worth almost $2.7 million. Phase 3 will finish out Legacy Trails and is expected to house at least 45 people.
Springfield Mayor Ken McClure says for every dollar spent on Habitat, the economic impact in the local area is worth a full $1.66. I caught up with him shortly before he and several other community leaders donned hard hats and picked up their shovels at the official groundbreaking. I asked McClure about Habitat’s role in the local housing market.
“It fits very well in the housing market," McClure said. "I think whatever we can do to first promote homeownership, which is what this does. And secondly, trying to make a dent in the fact that we need more housing for folks who might have problems otherwise affording it. If you look at the Community Focus reports going back several years, and the most recently released one last week, it talks about housing and the need for the continued availability of affordable housing, so this fits right in to me. It's all very much hand in glove, as far as I see things."
I followed-up by asking McClure about specific data on Springfield's home-buying market: "Now that housing report that the city undertook with APD [Urban Planning Management] last year, indicated that especially for folks 20 percentage points either way from that median income line, that there was a shortage of housing in the homeowner market. Can you talk about that, and does this represent progress on that issue for you?"
"This very clearly represents progress in that homeownership market," McClure said. "And then if you put into place like Restore SGF, which is trying to take some of those homes in that median neighborhood market type of thing, to promote that. They've identified neighborhoods throughout the city where they initially want to focus. I see all of this very much similar, very much together."
I followed up by asking the mayor whether he thinks these programs will improve Springfield's homeownership rate.
McClure responded, "It clearly helps. Everything that we can do, such as what we're doing here with Habitat for Humanity, Restore SGF, other efforts. Land bank was approved by the General Assembly, we've got to get that implemented, to hopefully make some of those properties available for homeownership together. So, several programs going together."
I asked about these policies in light of the upcoming city election, as McClure's term will end in April 2025 after 8 years in office: "So you're basically wanting to set up the next mayor for success on getting that homeownership rate back to a majority?"
He replied, "Well, I want to set up the next Council, the next mayor, certainly the community as a whole. We're making progress. We are making good progress. But we've got to get it done, we've got to get more homeownership out there. Everything we can do such as this, it's certainly an asset.”
Part of that 2023 housing study I asked the mayor about on behalf of Ozarks Publc Radio focused on a housing deficit of some 1,800 units that just don’t currently exist in Springfield’s homeownership market.
Community leaders like Greene County Western Commissioner Rusty MacLachlan acknowledged their housing optimism exists alongside housing challenges, in their comments Thursday morning.
MacLachlan said, “Homeownership is the American dream. And for many, that’s unattainable. And one of the thing that appealted to me most when i got on the board of directors for Habitat for Humanity, is that this organization provides hope. it provides hope for sometimes single parents or parents who have struggled with life who maybe see homeownership as unattainable."
