As a drizzle fell on the Far South Side, dozens of women in hard hats hammered away at two-by-fours, helping to construct a row of homes for Habitat for Humanity Chicago.
Around 50 women on Thursday kicked off the organization’s yearly Women Build month at the site of three single-family homes at 124th Street and Union Avenue.
It’s the organization’s largest Women Build event yet, with more than 600 volunteers who each will work a day throughout the month. They’ve raised nearly $600,000, the most ever.
“When you’re building for someone else, it’s a great feeling on the inside,” said volunteer Belinda Hutcherson, 74.
Hutcherson is unique among the volunteers because she’s applied to buy one of the homes, but won’t know if she will own one until the houses are completed in the spring.
She retired after working 32 years as a phone operator at a Holiday Inn near the Merchandise Mart.
She has tried to buy her own home, but she can’t get approved for a mortgage. So she’s applied through Habitat for Humanity, which provides zero-interest loans to buyers.
Habitat for Humanity sells its homes like any other developer. People must go through an application process. But Habitat provides homes to people who are historically left out of the buying process, such as minorities and women.
The idea behind Women Build is to get the conversation rolling about those inequities, said Habitat for Humanity Chicago Executive Director Jen Parks.
“Let’s talk about historical inequities,” she said. “Let’s shine a light on women coming together in support of creating pathways for other women.”
Habitat aims to help improve access to homeownership, especially in neighborhoods like West Pullman, Parks said. The neighborhood has seen disinvestment but has a homeownership rate of 60%, higher than the city average of 45%.
The homes under construction are designed to enable residents to age in place, Parks said. Someone can live solely on the first floor, if needed, in any of the two-story, four-bedroom homes. The homes have no basements to save on concrete costs, she said.
Most of the volunteers come from area businesses that have donated money and employees as workers.
Kathy Lanyi, an architect from Park Ridge, is a volunteer from SCB, an architecture firm that had 20 volunteers working Thursday. She and her co-workers raised money by selling honey at bake sales, she said.
She’s learned one important thing from her volunteer work.
“Construction work is hard,” said Lanyi, who’s also a board member for Habitat for Humanity Chicago.
Chicago’s Women Build has grown every year, and is possibly the largest in the country, Parks said. Last year, nearly 500 volunteers showed up, and the organization raised $560,000.
Construction of the homes began in June, when contractors poured the foundations. Female volunteers took over this month, mostly hammering in prefabricated walls of two-by-fours and performing other tasks that don’t require high-level training, giving construction workers a break before they start the next phase, Parks said.
Next year, Women Build will work on six to eight townhomes near 115th and Halsted streets, Parks said.
Habitat for Humanity Chicago has focused mainly on West Pullman since Parks took the helm in 2012, she said.
Its first major project, funded in part by the city, was building on a vacant block near 119th and Union. It’s now put up 28 homes on that block, Parks said.
The group also has an extensive small grant program that funds neighborhood projects, such as planters, holiday lighting, an upgraded basketball court and a mural, Parks said.
Habitat has begun building homes in neighboring Grand Crossing. Among the 11 homes under construction, seven are in Grand Crossing, Parks said. Habitat is also seeking to build homes in Austin on the West Side.
