By Kimberly Winter Stern
The 2024 Artisan Homes Tour brings to life the Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City’s (KCHBA) mission, “Homeownership for All,” with its beneficiary, Habitat KC, the region’s largest nonprofit home builder.
“We partner with thousands of families like Kimberly Hunter each year,” said Habitat KC CEO Lindsay Hicks. “We get to help amazing people with careers, families, and hopes for a home to build strength, stability, and self-reliance in the affordable housing space. This charitable partnership with the Artisan Homes Tour perfectly aligns with our goals and objectives.”
Artisan Home Tour chair, architect Scott Bickford of Bickford and Company notes the “natural symbiotic relationship between the Home Builders Association and Habitat KC. While the two organizations’ goals differ, we deal with many of the same issues concerning the build environment. The Artisan Home Tour presents some of the best homes Kansas City has to offer and can, at the same time, benefit some of the most needed housing through sharing proceeds and site donations.”
A portion of this year’s net tour proceeds benefit Habitat KC, helping build awareness for the nonprofit’s vital work throughout the metro. Representatives from the organization will be at each home on the tour, providing information about donating, shopping at ReStores throughout Kansas City, volunteering, and getting involved in a build to help homeowners like Hunter realize the dream of homeownership.
This year’s Artisan Home Tour is slated for Aug.9-11, 16-18, and 23-25.
Kimberly Hunter: A Habitat Homeowner’s Story
Hunter worked at a Walmart in 2000, one of two jobs she held down for years to make ends meet, when she heard about Habitat KC from a homeowner.
“Back then, my mentality was that nothing good ever happened to me,” Hunter said. “But I decided to apply for a Habitat house and go through the interview. Part of the process is they come to your home and see if you keep a clean house.”
She knew passing that qualification was a slam dunk.
“I grew up in a clean home,” she explained, adding, “My father was very particular.”
Hunter, the head custodian at South Branch Library in the Argentine Neighborhood of Kansas City, Kan. —now her sole job— has always taken pride in having a tidy place for her family. Her daughter, now 37, has severe asthma that started in childhood, so Hunter needed to provide a clean home.
Habitat KC accommodated Hunter’s special material requirements for her daughter’s asthma. Per the doctor’s orders, carpet wasn’t allowed, so Habitat installed parquet wood floors instead.
Hunter sailed through Habitat KC’s qualifying process and attended the groundbreaking of her future home in August 2002.
“When they told me it would be an all-women build, I was thrilled,” Hunter said, who moved with her children into the home right before Christmas that year.
Today, the 52-year-old Hunter is a proud, mortgage-free homeowner, paying off her home on Jan. 17, 2024. With other Habitat homeowners who also achieved the goal of owning their home outright, she burned her mortgage in a joyous ceremony.
“I was the first person to throw mine into the fire,” she said. “I rejoiced, watching that piece of paper go up in flames. It represented determination, sacrifice, working two jobs to help pay a mountain of hospital bills from my daughter’s illness and tending to family and business to allow my dream to come true.”
Habitat KC: Solving the challenges of affordable housing
Hicks cites the challenges Habitat KC experiences in striving to meet its goals.
“Like any nonprofit, there are challenges with funding and acquiring dollars to fill in gaps,” she said. “Land acquisition is made possible by strategic partnerships with donors and land banks in Wyandotte and Jackson counties.
“We’re finishing about 20 homes on Kansas City’s East Side, building in Kansas City, Kan., and recently broke ground on a 14-home pocket neighborhood in Johnson County. It’s been a good year, and we’re grateful for the partnership on this year’s Artisan Home Tour.”
KCHBA has supported Habitat KC over the years with small grants. This year, various committees and councils like the Professional Women in Building Council (PWB) participated in a Habitat KC Women Build Day, constructing a home in Kansas City, Mo.
As homeownership becomes more challenging to attain, KCHBA advocates for “Homeownership for All” by serving as a champion for homeownership through leadership and representation efforts at city hall, providing educational resources and events to bring awareness to the job opportunities within the industry, and increasing the understanding of the value of homeownership.
