Right at Home

On the north side of Tamiami Trail East just two miles from downtown Naples is the Palm River Mobile Home Park, a collection of trailers packed closely around a circular dirt drive. In the evenings, playing children dart between the small homes and parked automobiles, while their parents visit around barbecue pits and under the shade of carports.

Despite the neighborly feel, the tiny trailer lots are overgrown with vegetation and littered with trash, and most of the homes are in disrepair. Torn porch screens are common and several trailers have plywood squares tacked over broken windows or scrap metal patches that cover damaged siding. All of the homes in the park could use fresh paint.

It's the kind of rundown atmosphere that Dr. Sam Durso would like to eliminate in Southwest Florida. As president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Collier County, the retired dermatologist has made a second career of providing working poor families with permanent homes in well-kept neighborhoods.

"It's important, and it's something we have the ability to do in this county," says Durso, 61. "There's tremendous need for housing here, but we've also got a tremendous pool of generous people. Generosity is what makes Collier County a great place to live, and it's what makes Habitat so successful here."

Under Durso's leadership, Habitat for Humanity of Collier County has become one of the most productive Habitat affiliates in the country. When Durso first began volunteering in the early 1990s, the group built about 10 single-family homes each year. Over the past five years, Collier's Habitat has averaged more than 100 completed homes annually.

"Habitat for Humanity wouldn't be what it is in Collier County without Sam and his wife, Mary Ann," says Dr. Stan Swihart, a retired obstetrician and gynecologist, and a member of the group's board of directors. Swihart has known the Dursos since 1984 and has been volunteering at Habitat for the past several years.

"Habitat is a very pure, wonderful thing in Naples partly because everybody works together for a common purpose," he says. "But the Dursos are the driving force. They have a real desire to build more houses for people-and that's all they want to do."

Building houses was not part of the plan when the Dursos first moved to Southwest Florida. After selling Sam's North Andover, Mass., medical practice in 1993, the Dursos were ready

for a comfortable re-tirement on Marco Island, where they owned a condominium. But they also wanted to share their good fortune with others.

"My father was a contractor, and I had always enjoyed helping him," explains Durso. "My wife and I also wanted to give back somehow, and I was looking for something to do. I went out to a Habitat jobsite and I found I really enjoyed working with the homeowners and the volunteers. I also enjoyed the idea of building simple homes as efficiently as possible so we can build more of them."

Durso soon became a member of Habitat's board of directors, as well as project director and vice president of operations of Naples Manor, a community that now includes 190 Habitat homes. By 1999 he was the affiliate's president, CEO and chairman of the board.

a very smart, competent guy who has really made Habitat into a successful business," says Swihart. "He plans years in advance and is always looking for more land, thinking of the future. He has also made Habitat very efficient-more than 96 cents of every dollar goes into actual construction of the houses."

"It became a full-time thing for me very quickly," says Durso. "I dragged Mary Ann out there, and she got hooked right away, too. She likes to work with families and is very good with family issues. She's also very good recruiting other people to the cause-volunteers and staff members."

As executive director of the Collier affiliate, Mary Ann helps make sure Habitat families receive financial counseling and other guidance. (The Dursos' positions typically would be paid; however, they have chosen not to collect salaries.) Habitat families are selected from a pool of about 1,300 applicants each year. Each family is responsible for 500 hours of sweat equity, working on other families' homes as well as their own.

Once a new home is completed, the Habitat family buys the house from the Collier affiliate with an interest-free loan. Habitat for Humanity then uses the family's loan payments to build more houses. Collier Habitat families have a delinquent mortgage rate of less than .5 percent. Much of that success can be attributed to the Dursos' personal approach.

"Both Sam and his wife work with you side-by-side through the whole process," says Dee Proehl, who with her husband, George, recently bought a Habitat home. The Proehls have full-time jobs-Dee owns a cleaning business and George operates a forklift at a Naples marina-but they struggled for years to buy a home for them and their two young sons.

"We have been working in Collier County for the last 10 years, but we needed help and they really took us in," says Dee Proehl. "The Dursos opened themselves up and made the process comfortable for us. The way they interact with other families, you can tell they take a lot of people in that way."

The Proehls' story is common in Collier County. A recent study by the University of Florida's Shimberg Center for Affordable Housing estimates the county has a shortfall of about 30,000 units of affordable housing.

"The need is particularly great here, not just because the cost of real estate is so high, but also because 83 percent of the jobs here are in the service industry, agriculture and retail," says Sarah Schaefer, director of public relations at Habitat for Humanity of Collier County. "Those are the lowest paying areas, and with all the [apartments being converted to condos], there's not even much housing for those workers to rent."

way Durso has adapted to the high demand for affordable homes is the decision to build houses in planned unit developments rather than at scattered single home sites. Currently 44 homes, including the Proehls' new house, are near completion at Trail Ridge in east Naples. The community will ultimately include more than 200 homes.

Forty-eight families have already moved into Independence, a development in the Immokalee area that will include more than 100 homes by the end of this year. Just east of Independence, Habitat for Humanity will break ground on Liberty Landing in December. Liberty Landing will contain 150 more homes. All three developments will consist solely of single-family Habitat homes.

"It makes more sense, cost-wise and otherwise, to build in developments," says Schaefer. "It fosters community, because the owners have been out there meeting their neighbors, working on their homes together. When people care about their homes and their neighbors, it helps."

With the larger projects, Durso's job has become more complicated. He still reports to jobsites six mornings each week, checking on projects, organizing volunteers and even swinging a hammer from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. But much of his time is now spent working on master plans, looking for more land and meeting with public officials.

Traffic concurrency, zoning regulations and impact fees are all hot topics at the Habitat offices these days.

"I'm not really into task forces and such; I'm into building houses for people who need them," says Durso. "But the only thing holding us back is that the community doesn't yet have the political will to build affordable housing in Collier County. Part of it is the 'not in my back yard' mentality, and part of it is that some of the politicians just don't get it."