New Board President Of Habitat For Humanity KC: Henry Klein Works To Rebuild Kansas City Neighborhoods Block By Block

Former political candidates for elected office in this town have a way of quietly fading from the spotlight until the next election comes around. In that respect, former Kansas City mayoral candidate Henry Klein once again breaks the mold and has recently increased his civic engagement.

Henry Klein has been a board member for Habitat For Humanity KC for the past four years and this January he was elected Board President.

In a brief interview with Mr. Klein, he spoke of the changing nature of his organization.

"Because of the current economy and housing trends, Habitat For Humanity KC is evolving," Mr. Klein said. "Before the housing crisis we were always working on 'new builds' but the latest trends now have us dedicating more and more time to rehabs and focusing on parts of the city block by block in order to help revitalize neighborhoods."

With this new approach, the needs of Habitat For Humanity KC also change and Mr. Klein seems hard at work trying to keep his organization up to speed. While the Habitat still needs volunteers, moving away from "new builds" and toward rehab work requires skilled labor.

Often the scale of the organization is lost on those who regard it as just a charitable organization. In fact, Habitat for Humanity was noted as the sixth-largest U.S. homebuilder for the second year in a row.

Mr. Klein's increased involvement with the group signals that Kansas City's need for affordable housing shows no sign of abating. "There's no way I could have run for Mayor and been this involved with Habitat," the former candidate admits. Still, Mr. Klein serves as a PERFECT example to former candidates for local elected office that a continued commitment to Kansas City after the election is just as important as any campaign promise.