Habitat for Humanity of the Charlotte Region and Habitat Gaston County have announced a merger that they say will strengthen both organizations and bring new programs to Gaston County.
Patrick Mumford, board chair of Habitat Gaston County, said in an interview that merging the two organizations will bring more resources to Gaston County, allowing the organization to build more homes and add both a home repair program and a financial literacy program.
"It is an opportunity to scale the habitat impact in Gaston County, and so what I mean by that is, we will be able to bring additional resources here to the county to build more homes and then to broaden programs around critical home repair, which allows people to stay in their homes," Mumford said. "And then also we can bring a more robust approach to financial literacy through some of the programs the Charlotte Region affiliate already has in place."
The board began considering how the organization could better serve the community after former executive director Kay Peninger resigned in 2023.
"A little over a year ago, our executive director Kay Peninger had resigned due to some personal family issues, and then when we brought in our interim director, Lisa Quisenberry, we realized we needed to ask the question, 'How can the Gaston Habitat affiliate really make a material difference with the housing issues here in Gaston County?'" Mumford said.
"So we paused for a moment to better understand the dynamics of the housing issues here throughout the county, and then to see organizationally, how were we structured to be able to address that," Mumford said. "And through an extremely thoughtful and long process with the board in those discussions, we came to a realization that while we're a strong organization, leveraging the scale, the financial resources, the human capital that the Charlotte Region affiliate had, would allow us to really jumpstart our next evolution of the organization versus creating it from the ground up here in Gaston."
"The consolidated entity will be able to have a broader impact. That's what really drove it. It was being thoughtful and intentional and mission driven, and how we can best serve this county long term," Mumford added.
Habitat for Humanity will keep their office and furniture store open in Gaston County.
Habitat Charlotte Region CEO Laura Belcher said in an interview that the urgency of the area's housing crisis drove the decision to merge.
"I think we're in an increasingly desperate housing crisis locally and nationally, and those of us that work in this space and our supporters … we need to be more creative about our solutions," she said. "And how can we do more, serve more, all of that. I think the urgency of the housing crisis is really driving the creative solutions. I think the timing for this is critical."
Since 1983, the two affiliates have served more than 4,800 families, combined, Habitat said in a press release. The new organization will serve families from Charlotte to Gastonia and Pineville to Statesville, and will have:
• Assets of nearly $69 million
• Revenues of more than $52 million
• Nearly 1,100 mortgages
• More than 4,500 volunteers contributing nearly 80,000 hours of service annually
• More than 230 employees
The affiliates expect to finalize the consolidation on Oct. 1. Habitat Charlotte Region will continue to be headquartered in Charlotte, with offices in Gastonia and Davidson, and it plans to operate seven Habitat ReStores in Charlotte, Cornelius, Gastonia, Mooresville, Pineville and Statesville.
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