After three months of planning, the San Benito County chapter of Habitat for Humanity is nearing official status, and with it, hope for those in need of a home.
Board members have been chosen and after all 12 of them sign the chapter’s articles of incorporation, which is the formal paperwork needed to authorize the chapter as a nonprofit, it will be sent to the state, said board member and local attorney Arthur Cantu.
“The articles of incorporation spells out our goals and mission that it’s a nonprofit designed to partner in home-ownership,” Cantu said.
The articles should be signed by June 21, and at that time Habitat’s manager for the Western United States, Dirk Holkeboer, will meet with board members to give the “push to move,” said board member and retired city manager George Lewis.
“At that time he’ll kick off the local chapter… and move us towards the planning of future projects,” Lewis said.
The chapter’s articles are based on Habitat for Humanity International’s articles, Lewis said. Habitat’s articles state that the chapter is not organized for financial gain for its members and that all the activities must take place within San Benito County, among others.
The articles will have to be approved by the Secretary of State for California and filed. After that the chapter is “good to go,” Cantu said.
“Then we start creating homeowners for the people who would otherwise not be able to afford a house,” he said. “It’s a really good idea for the community and a way of offering help.”
After the articles are submitted to the state, when the chapter will become official is uncertain because it depends on the state’s expediency in approving them, Cantu said.
County resident and World Savings Loan Officer Cynthia Holthouse contacted Habitat for Humanity International in March to get the needed information to start the chapter.
She assembled a group of interested community members, eventually compiling the 12-person board of directors list.
Holthouse did not return phone calls to her home, work and cell phone Friday and Saturday.
Scott Fuller, general manager of San Juan Oaks, is a board member but hasn’t signed the articles of incorporation yet, he said.
“San Juan Oaks has always been interested in affordable housing in general, and this is a good way to address it in San Benito County,” Fuller said. “It’s realized that there’s a great need here.”
Habitat is a nonprofit organization with chapters all over the world and works to provide simple, affordable housing by partnering in home ownership.
Habitat volunteers work with a partnering family to build a home the family will eventually purchase.
“Another real positive is that it’s self- help; people help build the homes they will own,” Fuller said. “I think it’s got a real chance of making an impact here.”
Community activist Marley Holte is not a part of the board of directors but said he will support the chapter in any way he can once it’s formed.
“Whatever expertise in putting things together, I’ll be glad to give them that,” Holte said. “People here go to work everyday and go home and are not aware of the strife and needs of the people around them here. This can do a lot to make people aware.”
