Houston Habitat for Humanity

Over 35 years, Houston Habitat for Humanity built more than 1,100 homes in 14 Houston neighborhoods, including the Fifth Ward, Northeast Houston, and Southeast Houston. The organization has developed eleven new communities on raw tracts of land. All Houston Habitat homeowners have incomes at or below 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI) for the greater Houston area. For a family of four, this means earning a total of $70,000 or less annually. Many have young children and believe homeownership will help them secure brighter futures for their families. Some are seniors who never gave up on their lifelong dreams of homeownership. Nearly all are first-time homeowners. Habitat Houston believes everyone deserves a decent and affordable place to live. Now more than ever, homeownership is out of reach for most low-income families due to systemic denial of access to affordable mortgages and a decreased supply of affordable homes. The resulting homeownership gap is most significant for Black and Hispanic families and is recognized as the primary source of wealth disparity between White and families of color in the United States. More than 90% of Houston Habitat homeowners are Black or Hispanic and reflect the composition of neighborhoods we work to revitalize. By increasing homeownership in these groups, Houston Habitat is working to close the wealth gap for people of color.

A world where everyone has a decent place to live.

Goal One: Build Organizational Capability

Goal Two: Double the annual number of new Houston Habitat homeowners

Goal Three: Improve Systems and Processes

Our leadership team holds a retreat each year to develop annual strategic goals. Leaders budget for staff development education and are encouraged to give staff opportunities to lead. Every other year our organization travels to a national Habitat conference where staff can interact with their peers in other markets and learn best practices. We also make certain staff access industry societies to gain insight into current trends, network and participate in training opportunities.

Like many nonprofits, we were concerned about the global pandemic financially devastating our business but also deeply worried for the health of our Habitat family – staff, homeowners, board members, and friends. Houston Habitat’s experience with natural disasters gave us the strength to make the best of two challenging years. We are a team of doers that quickly looked for ways to continue our work and meet people where they were, at home. And home came to mean something very different in 2020. Home was everything, your office, school, and place of worship. How could we continue to build, repair, keep our ReStores open and work with potential new homeowners? Pivoting became a buzzword, and Houston Habitat pivoted to working with new safety measures, masks, and technology to move our work forward. Online meetings, celebrations, information sessions, fundraising events, and home tours populated our calendars. The tragic murder of George Floyd sparked an uprising for racial justice, and Houston Habitat jumped into challenging conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion. I am proud that our team embraced learning about systemic racism, implicit bias, and the role that discriminatory housing has played in creating racial inequity. As the supply chain was damaged, the cost to build homes increased, and the real estate boom meant higher prices for land and bigger appraisal values. The challenge remains how to keep homes affordable. We have been creative in sourcing new vendors, acquiring donated products, and buying in bulk to reduce costs. We have added more options to our portfolio to subsidize home purchases and identified new mortgage products to keep interest rates low or zero. The changes Houston Habitat made to accommodate remote work, and the focus on diversity and inclusion have permanently changed our office landscape and way of work. In the end, the past two years strengthened our resolve to build hope and create better futures for Houstonians.