Habitat for Humanity of Williamson County executive director

Habitat for Humanity is known worldwide as a homebuilding nonprofit organization, but its work can reach beyond that.

In Williamson County, Habitat for Humanity volunteers and staff members offer their time to more than building three- to four-bedroom houses for low-income families—they also provide home rehabilitation services for qualified residents and operate a ReStore, which sells donated home goods at reduced prices.

Volunteers started construction on the first Leander Habitat for Humanity home in September and are planning to build the nonprofit's first home in Jarrell next year.

Executive Director Debbie Hoffman oversees the nonprofit's daily operations in Williamson County.

As executive director, what do your duties include?

Just like other nonprofits, the executive director is mainly here to steer the ship in the right direction. We have extremely valuable staff members and volunteers who implement all of our programs and [make] sure that all of those programs work together, all of the processes are efficient and effective and [make] sure that we meet all our customers' expectations.

What does Habitat for Humanity do in Williamson County?

Our mission is to create and sustain home ownership opportunities here in Williamson County for families in the 30 [percent] to 50 percent median income range. That means they're most often classified as very low-income [residents].

While homeownership is not for everyone, for those people who are interested in homeownership and putting down roots in a community, we want them to have the opportunity just like someone in the regular market who [has a higher income].

We'd like for them to have these opportunities to stabilize their families, because many times these families in the low-income range move from apartment to apartment as rents increase or housing is not safe or adequate for their families.

We've just started a program to repair homes that families in [the] same income range own but don't have the skills and/or funds to maintain. We're helping them sustain the quality of their homes, to make sure their asset is safe and continues to be valuable to them and to the community.

What are volunteers needed for?

It takes about 2,200 volunteer hours to build a home from the ground up. We have our regular volunteers who are the lifeblood of the organization. They have gained skills—building skills [and] construction skills—over time under the direction of our construction coordinators and paid staff members. They are helping other unskilled volunteers who may come out one or two days during a build process.

Most of the time, people think we only do construction. We have volunteers who work in our ReStore. Our board of directors are volunteers. We have office workers. We have volunteers who help us with resource development. We have a group of volunteers now that is helping us identify the next families we will serve. [We have volunteers] who are teaching financial management classes [and] home maintenance classes. The volunteers that you don't see are just as important as the volunteers that you do see that are building the houses.

What projects do you have going on in Williamson County?

Our plan for the 12 months between July [2013] and June 2014 is to do four new-construction homes and four rehab homes. The definition for us for rehab is taking an existing home and bring[ing] it up to code or [updating] it so that we can sell it to a family [who doesn't meet our] regular qualifications.

[In] September we're finishing up a house here in Georgetown [and] finishing a rehab home in Leander. And then on Sept. 21, we [started] a new construction home in Leander, which will be the first home that we're [building] in that community, and we're very excited about that.

We have been a countywide organization since 2007, but this is the first time where we've owned a home or land in Leander. Since 2007, we've been working in Round Rock, Georgetown and Taylor. We're adding Leander this year, and we anticipate building our first house in Jarrell next year.

We want to make sure families can live safely, obviously, but affordably in the communities in which they have family to support or they have a job so they can be most successful in homeownership opportunities.

What else is Habitat working on?

Our repair program is very, very important. That started in July.

If there's someone who's needing repairs and in the income range we serve, we would want them to contact us. Right now, we have the funding to do that in Round Rock and Georgetown.

ReStore is very important to us because that is a sustainable revenue source for us. That store is open to the public. We take in donated building materials, both new and previously used materials, and will sell those at huge discounts to the public. Those funds that are secured through the ReStore help us with our mission, and it does keep a lot of material out of the landfill at the same time. Many people would just throw their items in the dumpster or take them out to the landfill, and they can donate them here. It is very exciting to see items repurposed. Several artists come in and buy metal and other materials for their artwork. It is incredible work they do, and they come and show us pictures. We are hoping to have an exhibit and sales day in partnership with the artists when it gets a little cooler out. Maybe this fall or spring.

How can people get involved?

They can access information on our website, www.williamsonhabitat.org or they can call our community involvement director, Linda Sloan, at 512-863-4344.

There are many families who want to get involved as a family. We have certain days that can happen. It's limited on the construction site because construction sites by nature are not safe places for young children. [The] youngest people we can have on our construction site are 16-[year-olds] if we have any tools out. The days that younger people can come help are days [when] we do landscaping on the houses. We like our families to volunteer, but we need to make sure everyone can be safe and contribute in a way that's meaningful for them.