RICHARD SANCHEZ always looks on the bright side. “He can see a pile of poop on the sidewalk and see the good in it,” says Cissy Diaz, who runs the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Hobbs and counts Sanchez as a boss, mentor, and friend. “He’d say, ‘Well, you can turn it into fertilizer.’ ”
Words of praise and appreciation come easily from people who know Sanchez, executive director of the nonprofit that builds homes for people in need. “God put Mr. Sanchez in my path,” says Diaz, who purchased a home in Hobbs through the Habitat program eight years ago. “He has mentored me and given me the opportunity to become a homeowner.”
Sanchez, who came to Hobbs in 1990, worked as a firefighter for 20 years and volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, teaching a fire prevention and home safety class to new homebuyers. He retired to spend time riding his Harley motorcycle and playing golf, but when the executive director position at Habitat opened, Sanchez decided it was time he could be of greater service to the organization and the community. “I bought into it real quick,” he says.
But building affordable housing isn’t easy. “We’re 3,500 to 4,500 houses short here in Hobbs,” Sanchez says. “Can you believe that? In Hobbs, of all places.”
Those numbers are compounded by a shortage of licensed contractors and skyrocketing material costs. Starter homes no longer cost $60,000 to $80,000 like when Sanchez bought his. “They’re $250,000, $300,000, $400,000 houses,” he says.
Still, Habitat has built 63 homes since the Hobbs program began in 1989, selling below market value at $150,000—including a zero percent interest, 30-year loan—for qualifying buyers who have lived in Hobbs for at least two years and make about 60 percent of the area’s median income. Over the past year, Habitat moved two families into brand-new homes and three into homes they rehabbed. Eight more new homes are currently under construction.
Habitat rallies volunteers and leverages community connections, including through the organization’s Care-A-Vanner program, which brings RVers from across the country to work for two weeks on a project. Sanchez says that well over 1,000 people have volunteered since he started eight and a half years ago. “All it costs me is lunch from time to time,” he says. “My wife’s enchiladas.”
Sanchez even worked with the local Knights of Columbus to acquire some of their land below market value. “They said, ‘Hey, we’re a Christian organization. We would like it to go to another Christian organization,’ ” he says.
But recently, Sanchez began something new. Two years ago, he started working with a handful of high school students from the Career and Technical Education Center at Hobbs Municipal Schools. “Of all the partnerships, I think this one has the most potential,” he says. The students spend time working on the houses, learning and building, while the seniors pass along their knowledge. There, Sanchez creates a synergy—fertilizer for both young minds and those who have much to give. “You get a 65-year-old retiree,” he says, “they want to show these young kids how to do it.”