Habitat partnership bears fruit for homebuyers in South Bend

Joel Gibbs was about five years into his job as a maintenance technician at the University of Notre Dame when the message arrived in his inbox.

“Find out if you qualify to build a new home with Habitat,” read the headline in the March 7, 2023, edition of NDWorks Weekly, the weekly e-newsletter for Notre Dame faculty, staff, and their families.

Notre Dame, via its public affairs, treasury services, and University relations offices, had recently partnered with Habitat for Humanity of St. Joseph County to increase access to affordable housing in South Bend. Now, it was asking employees if they wanted to join with the local nonprofit too.

A single father, Gibbs was intrigued.

“I saw the post in NDWorks Weekly and thought, ‘Let’s give it a shot,’” he said.

Less than two years later, Gibbs is the proud owner of a new home on Turnock Street in South Bend, five blocks south of campus in the city’s Northeast Neighborhood, which encompasses Eddy Street Commons and the rapidly developing Indiana 23 corridor.

Their own space

It’s a far cry from his parents’ house, where he and his 14-year-old daughter had been living.

“We finally have our own space that we can just enjoy,” he said.

The result of a partnership between Notre Dame and Habitat for Humanity of St. Joseph County, the two-story house on the east side of Turnock features three bedrooms, two bathrooms, an open-concept kitchen and living room, a large front porch, and a detached, one-stall garage.

Gibbs received the keys to the house on a hot, humid morning this past August.

Turning the lock, he opened the front door and led well-wishers, including Habitat and Notre Dame employees, into the newly carpeted living room.

“To be a fan of the University for so long, and then for them to donate this property and have their alumni come out and help us, it just shows how much Notre Dame cares about the city of South Bend.” –Gregory DeBerry

Inside, Jim Williams, president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity of St. Joseph County, blessed the house and presented Gibbs with gifts: a tool set, a Bible, and a pair of hand-knitted scarves—one for him and one for his daughter.

Moving into the kitchen, Gibbs opened first the pantry and then the refrigerator, revealing shelf upon shelf of cereals, snacks, beverages, and other items courtesy of the Food Bank of Northern Indiana.

A birdhouse and flower boxes—handmade by Robinson Community Learning Center students with support from Notre Dame design professor Jason Carley—will be delivered in the spring.

Asked later what it meant to own his own home, Gibbs said, “It means a lot. It’s a fresh start for my daughter and me.”

He can walk to work, he said, and his daughter can walk to school. A fan of the Fighting Irish football team, he can also tailgate in his driveway and walk to games at Notre Dame Stadium.

‘We got a house!’

The scene repeated itself later in the day, as fellow first-time homeowner Gregory DeBerry accepted the keys to his new three-bedroom, two-bathroom house that shares a driveway with Gibbs’s home.

DeBerry, a shift leader for a global power management company in South Bend, was joined by his daughters, Justyce and Jaida, and other family members.

Gazing around the finished living room, Justyce, the older of the two girls, could not contain her excitement, dancing and exclaiming, “We got a house!”

The family previously lived in an apartment, DeBerry said, describing it as less than ideal.

“It has its ups and downs,” he said of apartment life. “You’re close to your neighbors—they’re either right upstairs or right next door—so there’s noise. You have no control over what the grounds look like. But being a homeowner, I’ll be able to control all that myself.”

For Jaida, the artist of the family, there’s more room now for painting and crafting, two of her favorite pastimes.

“I have my little Cricut (cutting) machine I can use now with a lot more space,” she said.

It’s space that she and her sister helped to create.

As DeBerry explained, Habitat “gave me the opportunity to select the flooring, the carpet, the countertops for the kitchen, and the paint for the wall, and I handed that all over to my daughters. I let them pick so that they’d have their fingerprints on the home.”

In partnering with Habitat, homeowners contribute sweat equity to the organization and participate in homeowner education classes in exchange for an affordable mortgage—defined as no more than 30 percent of a buyer’s monthly income.

For DeBerry, that meant nights and weekends spent constructing his home alongside volunteers and contractors while also learning about things like home maintenance, repair, and finance.

“I really, really worked hard for this,” he said, becoming emotional. “But it was all worth it in the end.”

He said he was most looking forward to sitting on his new porch.

A community effort

Responding to rising real estate prices and a dwindling supply of affordable housing, Notre Dame partnered with Habitat for Humanity of St. Joseph County in January 2023 to build as many as seven new homes for low- to moderate-income families over five years, primarily along Turnock Street but in other areas of the city as well.

In doing so, it gave Habitat four vacant lots along Turnock, a narrow side street stretching about two blocks south from Corby Boulevard to South Bend Avenue. The University also facilitated a $250,000 gift to the organization—$50,000 per year over five years—from an undisclosed alumnus with a passion for both the University and Habitat.

Leveraging those gifts, Habitat, in partnership with DeBerry and Gibbs, broke ground on two new homes along Turnock in summer 2023. Notre Dame students and alumni provided volunteer labor.

Fourth-year Notre Dame architecture students, led by Associate Professor of the Practice John Mellor, designed the homes as part of an ongoing partnership with Habitat. Their designs emphasized quality, affordability, and consistency with the existing character of the neighborhood, which includes many single-family homes.

Recognizing an opportunity to engage students in real-world design work, support the community, and improve the overall quality and appearance of affordable housing, the School of Architecture initially partnered with Habitat in 2020, agreeing to design five homes for the organization in as many years.

Students have already met that target, Mellor said, working creatively to make the most of the interior and exterior design and layout.

“We kind of steer (the students) in different directions,” said Mellor, a practicing architect in South Bend. “But they’re interesting. They push back, and they do things that Habitat for Humanity either hadn’t considered in the past or just didn’t think was worth considering.”

Among other things, Mellor said, the students have persuaded Habitat to build homes with kitchen islands and with laundry on the first floor instead of in the basement. The students have also advocated for a wider variety of two-story homes.

On Turnock, they designed the homes higher off the ground and with deeper front porches to better relate to the existing houses in the area.

Notre Dame’s involvement with Habitat spans decades. The student chapter of the organization sponsors one house per year, while former women’s basketball coach Muffet McGraw lends her name to the annual Habitat for Humanity Muffet McGraw Women Build. Nearly a third of the local organization’s 16 board members are Notre Dame employees.

“At Habitat for Humanity, we believe that everyone deserves a decent place to live and that everyone should have an opportunity to make a better life for themselves,” said Jim Williams, president and CEO of the organization. “For three decades we have partnered with the University to promote the ideals of faith, justice, public service, and the care of the most vulnerable through affordable housing. Seeing tears of joy in the eyes of our Habitat homeowners at their house dedication reminds us all of how meaningful this work is.”

On a strategic level, Notre Dame’s support for Habitat aligns with the University’s mission and values. Notre Dame’s strategic framework calls for a more deliberate approach to community engagement and acknowledges that for Notre Dame to thrive, South Bend and the surrounding community must prosper as well.

It also builds upon the University’s existing efforts to increase access to affordable housing—both in partnership with the city of South Bend and other local stakeholders and as a founding member of the Northeast Neighborhood Revitalization Organization (NNRO).

“With respect to housing, Notre Dame’s commitment to the South Bend–Elkhart community is a reflection of its Catholic mission and values—in particular, the idea that everyone, regardless of income, has a right to safe, affordable housing,” said Tim Sexton, associate vice president for public affairs at Notre Dame and past president of the NNRO. “To that end, we are pleased to partner with Habitat for Humanity of St. Joseph County to increase access to affordable housing in the Northeast Neighborhood and elsewhere, and we look forward to collaborating even further with the organization in the future.”

‘It means the world’

Expressing his gratitude to Notre Dame, DeBerry, standing on his newly paved front walkway, said, “To be a fan of the University for so long, and then for them to donate this property and have their alumni come out and help us, it just shows how much Notre Dame cares about the city of South Bend.”

“It means the world to me,” Gibbs said of the University’s support for the local Habitat chapter and for his home in particular. “I mean, without the volunteers and the donations and everything, it wouldn’t be possible.”

Dolly Duffy is the executive director of the Alumni Association, which sponsored DeBerry’s home as part of its annual Family Volunteer Camp.

“To see the goals of this partnership between Family Volunteer Camp and Habitat for Humanity come to fruition is both incredibly rewarding and deeply humbling,” said Duffy, who also serves as associate vice president for university relations. “We’ve long been inspired by the alumni and families who dedicate a week each summer to serve the South Bend community. Now, seeing local families settle into homes made possible and affordable through their commitment to service reinforces just how meaningful this work truly is.”

The University took yet another step in its relationship with Habitat in September, when it partnered with the organization to break ground on five new homes along Harrison Avenue in South Bend, in the city’s Near Northwest Neighborhood, as part of events surrounding the inauguration of Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., the University’s 18th president.

Hundreds of students, faculty, and staff, including Father Dowd himself, participated in Inauguration Build 2024, working in shifts to raise the homes from the ground up. Joists. Studs. Headers. Rafters. Sheathing. Drywall. Doors and windows. Siding.

Again, the homes were designed by Notre Dame architecture students.

Speaking at a kickoff event for the build, Father Dowd, wearing jeans and sneakers and a blue-and-gold Notre Dame pullover, described the relationship between Notre Dame and Habitat as one of mutual respect and support for that most basic of human values: dignity.

“This is a great opportunity to come together in respect of human dignity,” he said, “the God-given dignity that each and every one of us has.”