Habitat Northern Fox Valley finishes ninth home at Fox Valley Farms

It may sound strange, but sometimes a straight line can lead to a full-circle moment.

That's the case along a stretch of South McHenry Avenue in Crystal Lake, where Habitat for Humanity of Northern Fox Valley completed a nine-home subdivision project called Fox Valley Farms. The first family moved to their new home in July 2020, and the sale of the final home was completed this summer, nearly three years later.

The homes, a colorful mix of one-story and two-story designs featuring 3-4 bedrooms, bring new life to a 3.4-acre vacant lot that once was part of a family farm, giving nine families a brighter future. Each home has an oversized porch, detached garage, large backyard, and brick paver driveway. This fall, all nine homes are occupied with families as they celebrate the holidays.

Tracy Fitzgerald, a single mother of three girls, was the first in line to purchase her Habitat NFV home, moving her family into it on July 1, 2020. They actually broke ground on the project in 2018, but construction didn't get under way until May 2019.

When it was completed a year later, Tracy got a surprise visit a few days after her family had settled. A woman, one of six girls who had grown up on the family farm there, wanted to share some memories with the newest caretakers of the property.

"She was generally so excited that the first person who moved in was a single mom with girls," Tracy recalled. "She brought us a basket with some baking supplies, and a gift card, along with a picture of her mother, who lived until 99."

Now that mom's photo has a place of honor on Tracy's refrigerator, along with many other pictures of Tracy's family, connecting the two families and their memories.

The land had been sitting vacant for many years until village officials in 2018 agreed to increase the mix of affordable housing in Crystal Lake and approved of Habitat NFV's proposal for the site. Although Habitat for Humanity of NFV has built and rehabbed more than 120 homes in the Fox Valley region, executive director Barbara Beckman said a lot of forces had to come together to make this larger project happen.

"Affordable homeownership has long-lasting and life-changing impacts on families," Beckman said. "NFV is grateful to its corporate, civic, and faith partners as well as individual donors and volunteers for their support and involvement in this project."

There are eight local Habitat affiliates in the Chicago region (visit habitat.org and enter your ZIP code to find your local office). The Northern Fox Valley affiliate serves portions of McHenry (south of Route 176), Kane and Cook counties. It also operates two ReStore home improvement centers in Elgin and Arlington Heights, with sales from those stores going toward future home builds.

Currently, the NFV office has volunteers and staff working on seven homes this year in Carpentersville (2), Elgin (3), and Crystal Lake (2).

Despite being a worldwide organization, each Habitat for Humanity affiliate works within a geographic service area and coordinates its own construction and repair programs, processes homebuyer applications and raises funds. Each buyer helps build their home and must complete a minimum of 250 hours of volunteer labor. At the build sites, they work under the direction of a Habitat project manager, who also supervises other volunteers. The entire build can take 12 to 18 months, and each of the homes is appraised and sold at fair market value.

The eligible buyers purchase the home from Habitat for Humanity of Northern Fox Valley with 0% interest for 30 years. Not charging interest on the mortgage loan makes monthly payments affordable. Habitat also retains the right of first refusal so if a family needs to sell their home, Habitat can purchase it back and sell it to another income-eligible family.

For Tracy and all the other Habitat NFV families, the homes provide them with comfort and stability, something they never had as renters.

"I moved in during COVID. That was such a good blessing at such a dark, unknowing time," Fitzgerald said. "COVID was such a devastating time, and to know that we had a home just made that time so much less scary because we had that stability. We love our home. Every day my kids appreciate it."

As the first one in, Tracy got to watch two more homes get completed that year, and six more started and completed over the following three years. Like many other businesses and nonprofit organizations, coping with COVID regulations during the pandemic was challenging. Donations dipped along with volunteer groups from local businesses and faith organizations as companies limited activities and federal rules restricted the number of workers on sites. Habitat managers and a few dedicated volunteers, however, kept building and moving forward while also dealing with supply chain issues.

Safely inside her home with her three children, Fitzgerald said she never minded the dust and noise from Habitat's construction.

"I was excited for the next set of families to feel what I felt. I never looked at it like it was a mess," she said. "I knew that there were people giving up their time to help others.

"It's funny, because it felt like those (other) houses were built so fast, but when you're waiting (for your home) it seems like - oh my gosh - a lot longer. But now it's done and it feels like a neighborhood."

Habitat for Humanity, which started in 1976, currently works in 1,400 local communities across the United States, and 70 countries around the world. Its most famous volunteer, former President Jimmy Carter, started building homes in 1984. To date, Habitat has built more than 70,000 new homes in the U.S., and rehabbed or repaired another 100,000 through its disaster response. It counts more than 2 million people among its volunteer builders and advocates.

Another major affordable housing project is already underway in Crystal Lake as Habitat's Northern Fox Valley affiliate has purchased five contiguous vacant lots on Eletson Avenue. Work on two of those homes began earlier this year.

Northern Fox Valley, which builds three days a week all year round, met its goal and raised more than $75,000 during its successful Women Build efforts in May and June thanks to more than 30 volunteer groups donating their time and money at various build sites in Elgin, Carpentersville and Crystal Lake.

Volunteers are welcome to join Habitat NFV by calling (847) 836-1432 or sending an email to volunteer@habitatnfv.org.

Tracy Fitzgerald looks forward to watching her new neighbors celebrate the holidays this year, and she's excited to hear about their plans. The homeowners are different ages, different nationalities, and have their own unique families that share a common bond with Habitat. If there is a neighborhood party that pulls everyone together, the planning will likely get done on Tracy's favorite spot - her front porch, which represents another full-circle moment in her life.

"Before I had kids, I always had this vision of having a house with a front porch," she said. "I do love my front porch."