Thefts create costs, building delays for Habitat for Humanity

? For what it will cost the city’s Habitat for Humanity chapter to recover from thefts of home-building materials this year, the nonprofit agency could put up an entire house.

Wood, copper pipe, tools and other items have been stolen from partly built houses and from the agency’s own warehouse, where someone cut a fence last weekend and drove off with $7,500 worth of lumber on a Habitat flatbed truck.

The crimes — nine so far this year — are discouraging for Rick Caplan, executive director of Habitat for Humanity Kansas City. He estimates the total cost at about $50,000.

“That’s a house that will not be built because of the thefts,” Caplan said.

Habitat for Humanity puts up homes for low-income families, who work alongside volunteer builders. The Kansas City branch serves the two-state metropolitan area.

On a single night this week, thieves hit five Habitat houses near midtown Kansas City. They kicked in the back doors and pulled out copper pipes, ruining two bathtubs and causing other damage, Caplan said.

Caplan thinks the thieves wanted to sell the pipe to a scrap yard, where the copper would fetch a few dollars.

“In this house, if they took all the copper, they could get about $5,” he said as he stood in one partly built home. “But for us to replace the tub and fixtures and for the staff time, it’s going to cost $1,500.”

High lumber prices probably have also led to the rash of thefts, he said.

Besides the cost of materials, the thefts also cause delays — about three days’ worth in the case of the five houses, Caplan said.

Alice Simmons, who plans to live in one of the houses, said she dreaded the delay with winter weather arriving. She currently lives in a rented duplex and is having a dispute with her landlord over unpaid water and heating bills.

“My day was blown by this information,” she said. “The people they are doing this to can’t afford it. I live paycheck to paycheck.”

Kansas City’s Habitat chapter isn’t the only one struck by thieves this year. In March, the St. Louis branch had $20,000 worth of power tools and other equipment stolen from seven locked trailers. The director of Habitat-St. Louis called the episode “very saddening.”

But news of those thefts elicited an encouraging response. Home Depot Inc. offered a $5,000 shopping spree, while its home improvement rival Lowe’s Cos. agreed to donate at least $15,000 worth of replacement tools.

Caplan is counting on similar generosity for Kansas City’s Habitat. The agency needs to replace the stolen materials and truck — and to add security at its warehouses and building sites.