OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford Officials pose at 432 Hoyt Street in Dunkirk where Chautauqua Area Habitat for Humanity will be constructing a new home. From left are Dave Kurzawa of the Habitat for Humanity, Chautauqua County Land Bank Executive Director Gina Paradis, and Dunkirk Planning and Development Director Vince DeJoy.

A vacant lot on Hoyt Street in Dunkirk is the site of the next Chautauqua Area Habitat for Humanity home.

The organization purchases lots and builds homes in collaboration with the Chautauqua County Land Bank. “We look for a good location for families to raise kids in,” said Dave Kurzawa, Habitat board member and site manager for the 432 Hoyt St. project.

The land bank had a vacant, derelict home on the parcel demolished last year, said Dunkirk Planning and Development Director Vince DeJoy. Habitat for Humanity now controls the site and according to Kurzawa, construction on a new home is expected to begin there this week.

“It’s the perfect environment for a new build for a family,” DeJoy said of the site.

The Hoyt Street project is the second Habitat for Humanity home in Dunkirk in the past couple years. A new house on Genet Street was completed last summer.

The Genet Street home was Habitat for Humanity’s first buildout in the city in 20 years. Officials said at the time that Dunkirk would become a priority for the organization, after years of mostly building in Jamestown.

“We are anticipating focusing in Dunkirk on building a few homes over the next few years,” Kurzawa confirmed last month, during a rainy photo opportunity at the Hoyt Street parcel.

A family is still sought to fill the new house on Hoyt Street, whenever it is completed. Kurzawa encouraged interested families to contact Chautauqua Area Habitat for Humanity through its website, https://chqhabitat.org. An application for housing is available on the website.

“Our goal is to take these lots that are not creating income and put a house there, and create more tax base for the community,” Kurzawa said.