Pioneer donates land to Habitat for Humanity

MIDLAND Pioneer Natural Resources, the largest oil producer in Texas, is donating more than 35 acres of land to Midland Habitat for Humanity valued at nearly $2 million.

Company officials announced the record donation on Giving Tuesday during a ceremony at the Midland property site where they handed over the land deed to the local nonprofit. The gift marks the largest land donation Midland Habitat for Humanity has ever received.

“At Pioneer, we have a long-standing belief in the importance of supporting the communities where our employees live and work, and our partnership with Midland Habitat for Humanity exemplifies that commitment,” Pioneer Natural Resources President & Chief Operating Officer Rich Dealy said in a news release. “So, on this Giving Tuesday 2021, we’re excited to make this donation of land to Midland Habitat for Humanity so it, along with Pioneer and its many other community supporters, can continue to make a lasting impact in the Midland community.”

Pioneer has established a longtime relationship with Midland Habitat for Humanity dating back to 2012. In recent years, they have built six houses, and Pioneer and its employees have given $437,000 to the agency and donated thousands of hours in labor to help make the dream of home ownership attainable for those most in need, the release said.

With all of Pioneer’s energy exploration operations based in the Permian Basin, the company’s donation of the acreage has a special resonance, the release said.

“Habitat is a nonprofit developer and builder in one of the most expensive markets to buy and develop land, so without strategic partnerships and donations, we would not be able to do what we do,” said Joey Hopkins, executive director of Midland Habitat for Humanity, which has built 175 affordable homes for more than 700 people in the Midland-Odessa area since the chapter was established in 1991.

Midland Habitat plans to work with engineers to develop a site plan for the tract of land, but Hopkins said its future potential is already within view.

“Pioneer’s donation will be the single largest land donation we have ever received and will allow us to build the largest subdivision we have ever built,” Hopkins said. “And that subdivision has the potential to be the largest affordable housing development in Midland.”

Emily Statton-Smith, vice-president of Habitat for Humanity’s Board of Directors and associate general counsel at Pioneer Natural Resources, called the donation “a transformative event for the south part of Midland” that figures to increase the tax base by millions of dollars, the release said.

“The ripples of this generosity will spread throughout the community and time,” Statton-Smith said. “One of the biggest issues looming over Habitat Midland was the lack of buildable lots; the cost of real estate skyrocketed along with the price of oil, and Habitat’s inventory of land was rapidly dwindling. Thanks to Pioneer’s donation, Habitat’s land woes will be solved for the coming decades.”