By Miles Flynn | Southern Indiana Business Report
PAOLI — Another rural Southern Indiana community is stepping up to the challenge presented by a lack of available quality housing. Paoli celebrated the groundbreaking on a new home Sept. 7, and the event drew officials from partnering agencies including the Indiana University Center for Rural Engagement, Orange County Economic Development Partnership, Orange County Community Foundation, Paoli Community Schools, Lost River Career Cooperative, and the town itself.
The Paoli Town Council tasked the Paoli Plan Commission with tackling the housing problem, Paoli Town Council President Danny Hickman related to the crowd, and that agency responded by launching the Paoli Housing Task Force. He credited the task force with guiding the undertaking to where it is today.
Martha Nice, a member of the plan commission and task force, explained the new organization made it its mission to tackle 25 housing projects by 2025 — 25 by 25 — through community partnerships to allow new construction, rehabilitation or remodeling. “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood,” she said of the kickoff home. “We hope this new neighbor will join others and make it a great neighborhood.”
First home a true collaboration
Phil Mininger, a longtime familiar face in local housing efforts due to his work as construction manager with Orange County Habitat for Humanity, is wearing several hats on the build. A member of the task force, Mininger personally bought the land for the project through a county commissioners’ sale. He’s also serving as construction manager, and he’s a member of the advisory council for Lost River Career Center. Construction trades students from the school are providing the labor for the project under the direction of their instructor, Jon Shellenberger.
The new home will be the 15th house Lost River students have helped build in the past several years, with many of those projects being Habitat for Humanity homes. Speakers at the event praised the students for their continued efforts to improve their hometown and encouraged the young people to return and make their own homes here someday. “We are all so, so proud of you,” Mininger told the group. “You’re the future of Paoli.”
Shellenberger said he has “a good group of kids.” He explained the construction trades program’s three courses help students prepare for careers by earning dual credit through Vincennes University and even getting connected with apprenticeships. The construction trades program is one of 15 pathways available at Lost River Career Cooperative, and in all, the organization serves more than 600 students at Paoli, Springs Valley and West Washington high schools.
Professor Jon Racek, a design instructor from IU, helped with the plans for the home. He will also be bringing the Lost River students to IU to introduce them to programs there.
Mininger is selling the lot to the homeowner for just enough to cover his own expenses for the purchase, legal fees and survey work, and all along he’s seen the land and the suggestion of bringing the students on board as a way to help the task force “get off the ground” with a model home. Completion is set for mid-May 2022 — the end of the school year.
Construction is being financed through a private lender in the community. Mininger said the anonymous partner stepped up to help support the student program and to contribute to more housing options in Paoli. Final build price for the 1,500-square-foot, story-and-a-half home with full unfinished basement is expected to be approximately $140,000-$150,000. It already has a buyer, who provided the specifications for the home.
“We have an agreement between the construction funder, the student program, and myself that fair market value would be charged for all services but there would be no profit taking in addition to that,” Mininger told Southern Indiana Business Report. “So, this house will be sold at cost.”
Mininger said selling at cost is being done for several reasons. At the top of the list are concerns over any party making money off the task force’s launch project or off the work of students.
Even though there’s already a buyer involved, the first home is seen as a model due to the fact its footprint of 1,150 square feet on the first floor can fit many of the vacant lots around town, it utilizes affordable building methods and materials, and it will be extremely energy efficient. In addition, Mininger noted Racek will assist with tracking all costs. At the end of the project, all actual costs will be available to any party interested in continuing construction. “The costs are being tracked very closely, so that we can point out the ‘options,’” Nice noted. She said it’s just one of the many ways IU has been a tremendous help on the project.
Looking ahead to new projects
Nice said the task force has already connected with two more parties interested in possible home rehab projects that could go toward the “25 by 25” count. The group will continue to work on infill within the town limits of Paoli, and she thinks a planned “home-a-rama” open house event next spring with the home now under construction, along with mapping being done by IU students, will help connect the group with more potential homebuyers. “Folks can drive around and look at potential lots for building, residential areas, etc.,” she said. “We … plan to have financial institutions available that day, so folks can go shopping and talk about financing, insurance, upkeep — all things housing.”
Between now and then, the task force is also planning workshops, either in person or online, to help would-be buyers on topics like increasing credit scores and saving up for a down payment. The offerings, and more information, will be publicized through the task force’s website, which can be found by clicking here.
Looking ahead beyond infill, the task force might someday even look at large-scale partnerships to bring a new subdivision to Paoli. “Sometimes, it seems, you just have to get started,” Nice said.