Habitat for Humanity Lake County built seven houses in 2024 giving families the stability of home ownership, and Habitat for Humanity McHenry did the same for six households.
When the two not-for-profit affiliates of Habitat for Humanity International merge into Lake-McHenry Habitat for Humanity in 2025, Joel Williams, the head of the Lake County organization who will lead the new entity, anticipates exceeding the combined in the year ahead.
“This is a pretty exciting opportunity for our respective organizations,” Williams said. “We’re going to be able to do more together than we did separately. All of us together will be able to do more as a larger organization.”
Lake-McHenry Habitat for Humanity officially became a legal entity at midnight Wednesday with the mission of building homes for low-income families in Lake and McHenry counties, combining their resources to do more than build a greater number of homes together.
“When I wake up tomorrow, it will be a new organization,” Williams said Tuesday afternoon.
With the larger organization in place, Williams said Lake-McHenry Habitat for Humanity will be better able to fulfill the dream of the international organization’s most well-known volunteers — former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, former First Lady Rosalyn Carter.
“He was the greatest champion of the organization and its most famous volunteer,” Williams said. “His vision was to do more and serve more, and the unification allows us to do that.”
Of the homes built in Lake County, Williams said the majority are in Waukegan and North Chicago, with some now being constructed in the Round Lake area. In McHenry County, the focus is on the city of McHenry and Harvard.
Possessing a large complement of volunteers, Williams said a good number of them live in western Lake County making homebuilding convenient in either place. Lake County also has a larger amount of subcontractors to help with construction, enabling more building farther west.
Added by the former McHenry County habitat are critical care home repair and third-party mortgages not currently utilized by Lake County. Williams said there are times when a family is already a homeowner but needs an improvement it cannot afford like a roof, windows or a furnace.
“Like a new home, we do an assessment to see if they qualify with income and pay the taxes,” he said. “If they qualify, we do something about it. It’s usually a direct grant, but they have to agree to live there for five years. We don’t want it to be a repair and flip.”
Since building a new home often requires financing through a mortgage, Williams said the former McHenry habitat has built a strong stable of lenders who can help by potentially enabling more new houses in Lake County.
Currently operating two Habitat ReStore stores in McHenry County, Williams said he hopes to reopen one in Lake County after closing it early last year. It sells used and new household items like furniture — the major product — as well as windows, doors, bathtubs and more.
“It’s a discount home improvement store,” he said. “It’s a way to help furnish their home. It’s open to the public. Some of the furniture is donated. We pick it up for free from the donor.”
More employees will be needed as a result of the merger, adding jobs to the local economy. Williams said the Lake County Habitat is providing its 18 workers, and McHenry is adding 28.
“We’ll be posting some new positions in the early part of the year,” Williams said. “It will enable us to serve more,” he added, referring to Carter’s vision for the international organization.
Williams said the idea for the merger originated with former McHenry Habitat president and CEO Jerry Monica, who recently retired after nearly 14 years.
“He prepared us for this for the better part of a year,” Williams said. “It was through his organizational efforts we were able to do this.”