Labor Day was established to honor blue-collar workers, and over time, it has become so...
CEO Corner
Creating New Programs and Partnerships to help more families
Many of us who work in affordable housing, or any field where you are serving the basic needs of humanity, sometimes feel as though the problem is so vast. I know I’m not the only one to wonder if what I am doing is enough.
Most of us here know the statistics and numbers associated with affordable housing in Atlanta, they are bleak. And like the ocean, housing insecurity is vast.
Across the nation, many communities are struggling to provide housing options in their communities. In Atlanta, we share that struggle. There is nowhere in the United States where somebody making a minimum wage can afford a one-bedroom apartment. Over 11 million families making minimum wage spend over 50 percent of their income on rent every month.
In Atlanta, we share that struggle. Rental costs across the region have nearly doubled since 2010. And there is also the need to help existing homeowners to remaining in their homes.
There must be as much focus on resident retention as there is on developing affordable housing and infusing the historic neighborhoods with new families.
Atlanta Habitat has been building in Atlanta since 1983. When I came to Atlanta Habitat in 2015, we expanded our mission. Today, we are stepping up the numbers of new families we serve. We have strategic partnerships and new programs like our critical home repairs to expand our reach, and we are doing that at a very fast pace, because it is needed.
Our Repair with Kindness program offers critical repairs to existing homeowners in neighborhoods where we build. Seniors and military veterans can receive this service to help make their homes safe, dry and accessible. They can live in their homes longer and not have to sell because it costs too much to make critical repairs. We completed 18 RWK that first year in 2016. We doubled that to 40 this year, and we are scheduled to complete 60 more in 2019.
Our other neighborhood revitalization program is Brush with Kindness. It used to be only for Atlanta Habitat homeowners who have been in their homes for 10 or more years. We paint the homes exterior along with some minor repairs.
We expanded that program to benefit the neighbors in the communities where we build. In 2014, we painted 10 homeowners’ houses. We painted 75 this year and next year, we’re scheduled to paint 81.
We also go beyond-the-build with our homeowner families with expanded education classes that teach everything from how to fix a faucet to how to write a compelling Linked In profile, build financial literacy and how to launch a successful business. These programs empower our families to reach for and achieve higher dreams of completing their college degree or specialized program certificate or to launch a new business.
Our new, strategic partnerships are fueling what we are doing today. For instance, our new partnership with Westside Future Fund.
With the help of Liz Blake, a longtime friend of Atlanta Habitat and Westside advocate, WFF and Atlanta Habitat now can give some targeted help to our legacy residents on the westside.
Our new “Brush with Kindness for Westside Residents” kicked off in 2018. Westside Future Fund identifies homeowners in need of minor repairs and exterior painting of their homes. Atlanta Habitat then works with those homeowners to complete the work using our volunteer model.
Now, this may appear minor to some, but for a homeowner who may be struggling on a limited income to secure basic needs, buy medications and pay property taxes, it’s a godsend.
As their neighborhood is changing around them, their homes are being improved as well at no cost to them.
As the largest nonprofit, affordable homebuilder in Atlanta, we are excited about the future of this partnership and what we all are doing to tackle affordable housing and resident retention across Atlanta.
Out and About
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CEO Corner
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