I very much enjoyed my week off, although that seems a long time ago already. I did little more than putter around the house, entertain guests and snark and restack on Substack. I could get used to it.
But, alas, I have houses to build, and miles to go before…well, you get it.
The events of recent weeks - coupled with real down time - helped clear the cobwebs and calcification that had been forming on my thinking and perspective. So too did conversations with folks who are outside of my day-to-day work-life bubble.
There does seem to be more hope and less dismay than just a few weeks ago. It seems that many feel that we are really and truly on the cusp of an inflection point in our society.
There are green shoots of hope on the housing front. In addition to the solid and very credible plan put forth by Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, there was another plan - The Homes Act - recently introduced by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Tina Smith.
These are both needed steps in getting a national conversation restarted about siting and funding more home construction for units that are attainable for lower and middle income Americans. We are building enough $400,000+ homes. We are not building starter homes or rentals affordable to those less than affluent
While one can - and many undoubtedly will - quibble with specific details of each housing proposal, there is no arguing that we need a mosaic of new housing options. Each of these new plans offer fresh ideas, and some rethinking of existing programs. Critically, homeownership programs are part of the mix.
As one of my local HFH colleagues recently wrote, the market continues to fail us. Government investmemt in housing has been a long-established initiative. It is time to take a different approach to what works and what hasn’t.
The growth of our economy and opportunity starts with housing. It is fundamental to building strong and resourceful communities, families and individuals. We have failed to provide effective counters to the market-driven actions that have created the housing crisis we have today.
Habitat for Humanity has been a pioneer in the “give a hand up” approach to housing. Nearing its 50th anniversary, it has grown from humble roots in rural Georgia to one of the largest homebuilding organizations of any kind in the United States. This has been done through a pioneering community-based construction model (some might call it social housing.)
One of the great misconceptions about the work that Habitat for Humanity does is that we give homes away; that we provide a hand-out in the form of free homes.
Nothing could be further from the truth, but as Mark Twain once said:
“History is strewn thick with evidence that a truth is not hard to kill, but a lie, well told, is immortal.”
Habitat builds homes that are made affordable to low and middle-income homebuyers to purchase. They are made affordable through subsidies that lower the actual sale price of the house to 30% of an applicant’s income.
The subsidy is provided by donors; state, local and federal programs; gifts-in-kind by contractors and service providers; as well as the labor provided by the many individual and organizational volunteers who participate in our projects. A non-virtual social network, if you will.
A week or so ago, a group of NY Habitat leaders (pictured above) gathered to discuss how to scale capacity to build more, find new capital to expand our operations and how to educate and inform our community leaders on making development easier.
So many communities in NY are losing residents, and housing is at the center of this. Habitat NY affiliates build hundreds of homes a year, and change lives and communities one house at a time. And we can do more, with more support.
Summer’s over. This fall, come lend your hand to a Habitat build near you.
Together, we go farther.
Let’s build.
If your building talents are commensurate with your writing talents, HFH will shine through!
Great post, Al. Worth the wait.