North St. Louis County Habitat for Humanity

Putting plans into action with community support

Dear Friends,

Spring and early summer are exciting times of the year at North St. Louis County Habitat for Humanity! As an ecumenical Christian housing ministry, we work to fulfil our mission of displaying God’s love by bringing people together to build homes, communities, and hope.

That work takes effort and careful planning. We are blessed with a dedicated board of directors who provide thoughtful support and strategic leadership to the organization. Last spring, the board held a special planning session to outline our direction for the 2023 construction season. Our goal is to partner with at least five families to give them the opportunity to build and affordably buy a home. 

Over the summer months, we started three home projects in Eveleth one in Hibbing. Each year, we match families in need of homes with available lots, funding sources, and volunteer availability. We also consider the needs across the Iron Range and work diligently to provide affordable homes across our service area. This year, we will be blessed to have built with 116 households in 15 communities!

The need for affordable housing is critical in our area. Many of our lower-income neighbors experience the cost burden of paying much more than 30% of their income for apartments that are often inadequate, unsafe, and dilapidated. Housing has become a first-tier issue in the Minnesota Legislature, and we were blessed with the state allocating significant funding to help affordable housing efforts. This funding is a blessing but will not address the significant housing shortage alone. As always, we are blessed with your support for the work that we do with our neighbors in need. Thank you!

As we seek to grow our ability to serve North St. Louis County, the planning session identified three primary challenges: funding, staffing, and advocacy. Growing all our funding pools is essential for serving more families while keeping up with the increased costs of materials, land, and professional labor. Our organization is blessed with capable, dedicated staff, and have already added a part-time construction coordinator as seed to increase the number of homes we build. Finally, we cannot reach our vision of a world where everyone has a decent place to live by hands on hammers alone. We need the community at large to be involved in sharing the urgency of the affordable housing need with all agencies, governments, businesses, and individuals.

All plans are just dreams if there is no discipline to put them into action. We are thankful for you, our volunteers and supporters, who help us every day in fulfilling Habitat’s mission. We also approach our plans prayerfully, acknowledging God’s blessing in our work. Together, we continue to make a difference!

Thank you for your support,

Nathan Thompson, executive director

Our 2023 Home Builders