Habitat for Humanity of Long Island earlier this month began construction of a home in North Bellport, which will be its 249th on Long Island and its 103rd in the North Bellport and East Patchogue area, since it launched in 1987, the nonprofit organization’s CEO said.

The home, which is being built on Davidson Avenue, will be about 1,200 square feet, with three bedrooms and one bath. The homeowners are a couple with three children, including an infant.

The family is expected to be in their new home by Christmas, said Diane Manders, CEO and executive director of Middle Island-based Habitat for Humanity of Long Island. The organization is part of Habitat for Humanity, an international organization whose best-known volunteers were the late President Jimmy Carter and the late First Lady Rosalynn Carter.

Several organizations came together to make the North Bellport project happen.

The Town of Brookhaven donated the lot. King Quality Roofing and Siding and GAF donated the roofing materials. Workers from Bohemia-based King Quality installed the roof on Thursday, April 17.

These homes aren’t free.

Homeowners take out a mortgage and they also have to put in 300 hours of labor—210 hours helping to build their home or another Habitat for Humanity home, plus another 90 hours working at Habitat’s ReStore in Ronkonkoma, Manders said. They also have to undergo 100 hours of financial education.

Manders said prospective homeowners have to earn less than 80 percent of area median income, which currently is $120,000 for a family of four. 

Jeff Brett, CEO and founder of King Quality Roofing and Siding, said this is the ninth roof the company has installed for free for Habitat for Humanity.Brett, a Habitat for Humanity of Long Island board member and the organization’s 2023 Man of the Year, said he and his employees take a lot of pride when a Habitat for Humanity home is completed and a family is handed the keys and moves in.

“It’s watching dreams come true that they never thought would happen,” Brett said. “If this were a Lifetime movie, everyone would be rooting for them.”

Brett, who started his company in 1992, launched its King Quality Cares initiative three years ago to assist area nonprofit organizations. In that time, it has worked with Habitat for Humanity of Long Island, Hope House Ministries in Port Jefferson, AHRC and Lighthouse Ministries, among others. Its charitable endeavors also include media grants to nonprofits including Habitat for Humanity of Long Island, John’s Crazy Socks and Angels of Long Island, to pay for television commercials to raise the nonprofit organization’s profile.

Habitat for Humanity of Long Island builds about four to six homes a year, Manders said. They used to build about six to eight homes a year before costs for building materials increased.

At the same time, Manders said the nonprofit has seen a 600 percent increase in the number of people applying to become homeowners because of “the tremendous amount of need we’re dealing with on Long Island.”

The Habitat for Humanity home is among several changes coming to North Bellport.

The Town of Brookhaven was awarded a $4.5 million NY Forward grant for North Bellport and the town held a series of meetings with the public to solicit ideas for which projects the community would like to see. Suggestions included the addition of a grocery store and a bank.

And on Ecke Avenue, the Long Island Housing Partnership and the Town of Brookhaven are partnering on the construction of 32 affordable, single-family homes for first-time homebuyers. Each home will have its own accessory apartment.