Habitat for Humanity of Sonoma County is preparing to build two new affordable homes in Sebastopol.
The non-profit organization is holding a groundbreaking at noon Tuesday at 842 Litchfield Ave.
The land for the two homes was donated by Pinnacle Homes of Santa Rosa. The houses are slated to be the 13th and 14th built by Habitat in Sonoma County.
Dick Dowd, a Pinnacle vice president and a Habitat board member, said his company hopes next spring to start building 11 market-rate houses nearby in the subdivision, named Litchfield Terrace.
As occurs in other communities, Sebastopol requires home builders to help the city meet its goal of increasing the number of affordable housing units. Dowd credited the town’s City Council for allowing Pinnacle to donate the land for free to Habitat rather than simply requiring the builder to pay impact fees directly to the city.
Katheryn Fong, Habitat’s executive director, said homeowners and volunteers will complete two Habitat homes in Healdsburg before the group starts full-scale construction in Sebastopol. The Healdsburg homes are expected to be completed early next year.
Nonetheless, she said, Habitat soon will pour the foundation for the Sebastopol homes so that construction there can start promptly once the organization is ready to begin next year.
Habitat’s international organization, an ecumenical Christian ministry, has constructed more than 350,000 homes around the world, enough to shelter more than 1.75 million people.
— Robert Digitale