Staff Report
Bowen Health has donated property to Habitat for Humanity of Kosciusko County for use as a future building site for a family home.
The property is a 0.32-acre lot at 1813 Hepler Drive in Warsaw. A house located on the property was destroyed by fire in May 2021, according to a news release from Bowen Health.
“We owned a home there previously that we had available for patients to rent at below-market rates,” said Bowen Health CFO Jay Baumgartner. “Unfortunately, there was a fire, and the home was a total loss.”
“The Habitat board of directors is honored to receive this great donation from Bowen Health,” said Habitat for Humanity of Kosciusko County Executive Director Ben Logan.
“Land is the biggest bottleneck to building more homes. The Bowen staff were very easy to work with, and we are always excited to show our communities examples of nonprofits working together,” Logan said.
According to Logan, the current assessed value of the property is $22,400. Its real value, however, will come when a family can call it home.
“Land in Warsaw is very desirable for the families we serve, so I’d be surprised if it takes more than a year or so to start building on it,” Logan said.
Habitat for Humanity partners with families to build affordable housing. As part of the program, each adult in the household must contribute 250 hours of volunteer labor (with a maximum of 500 hours per household). This includes participating in financial and homeownership education classes, as well as working on the construction site or in the Habitat ReStore. The construction process typically takes six months to complete. Upon completion, the Habitat home is “sold” back to the family at a zero-interest mortgage rate.
