Habitat for Humanity of Bergen County similarly got “fairly lucky,” said Director of Construction Gary Kuhl.
“A lot of the things that we [needed] were secured prior to COVID,” he said. In fact, Bergen Habitat’s build even came in under budget. Morris Habitat for Humanity had a 12-unit project that was already “three-quarters of the way finished,” CEO Blair Schleicher Wilson said.
But not all nonprofits had such good luck. At the start of the pandemic, the New Jersey Community Development Corp. had just begun a 52-unit affordable housing project. When lumber prices spiked, it had to modify its contract with its supplier. So far, CEO Bob Guarasci said, the project is on time, but the price hikes do “have the potential to impact the project’s cost.”