Why Habitat is Needed

Every day in Multnomah County and northern Clackamas County, low-income, hard-working families struggle to find affordable places to live.  Rapidly rising rents force these families to live in unsafe, unhealthy and crowded conditions.  These families often have to move once or twice a year in search of rents that stay within their reach.  Because of this, children transfer from school to school, affecting their learning and their self-esteem.  

The American dream of homeownership is seen as simply unattainable, due to the skyrocketing cost of home prices and little change in incomes of hard working families.  

Our mission of working with the community to build simple, decent, affordable homes with and for these families has resulted in over 100 families permanently escaping poverty housing. We believe in this mission, because we have seen first-hand how affordable homeownership impacts families, children, and communities.

• Families have a chance to experience stability, build equity wealth, and have something tangible to pass on to their children.
  
• Children are healthier and safer. They do better in school, have higher self-esteem, and feel more hopeful toward their future.
  
• Communities are improved, as homeowners tend to be more active in their communities than renters, and pay into the local tax base.

For specific research data on the impact of homeownership on children, families and the community, we encourage you to download the report "The Private and Social Benefits of Homeownership", authored by Dr. Haurin, a professor at Ohio State University.

For local information, we invite you to read the Oregon Housing and Community Services Report on Poverty 2006.

Along with your partnership with Habitat for Humanity Portland/Metro East, we encourage you to get involved with other organizations focused on helping more Portland families find affordable housing.  The following websites contain information about local and statewide housing advocacy:

• Affordable Housing NOW! is a movement of affordable housing advocates and tenants whose goals are to secure new resources for affordable housing for the Portland Metro area by building a movement large enough to make funding for affordable housing for low income people a political priority in the Metro area.
   
• The Housing Alliance brings together advocates, local governments, housing authorities, community development corporations, environmentalists, service providers, business interests and all others dedicated to increasing the resources available to meet our housing needs to support a common statewide legislative and policy agenda.
   
• Real Estate Professionals Building Communityis a group which actively supports affordable housing and home-ownership initiatives by working toward the enactment of a real estate transfer fee in the state of Oregon. Learn about options for selling your house that give back to those in need of safe, stable housing they can afford.

Thank you for caring about simple, decent, affordable housing in your community!