Dozens of corporate professionals from all around the world. Different backgrounds. Different experiences. But united for the same cause. To help build houses with families that deserve a new beginning.
“We were waiting for death,” says Asma, a 23-year-old nursing school graduate and the daughter of Khaled and Daniela. Reflecting on the past month in Gaza, she recounts the experiences of her family. Her father, a 60-year-old mechanical engineer, and her mother, a 54-year-old born and raised in Brașov, Romania, were part of the first group of evacuees from the Gaza Strip to arrive in Romania on November 8. Their large, close-knit family of 13 includes their 6-month-old granddaughter Hanan, whose name means compassion and affection.
Habitat for Humanity International is calling on delegates at the COP28 climate change conference to prioritize the housing needs of vulnerable populations, particularly those who are living in slums and informal settlements, by taking action that will meaningfully address the impact of climate change on safe, decent, and affordable housing.
“We used to have very small apartments,” Alma Mushi says of Albania’s Communist period from 1944 to 1991. Alma serves as deputy marketing director for Fondi BESA, Albania’s largest microfinance institution. “In my father’s house, there were eight or nine people living in two rooms and one kitchen. Everyone was living like that, with two or three sons (and their wives) in the same small apartment.”
Valbona Xhafa, regional manager at Fondi BESA, emphasizes the deep cultural value placed on homeownership in Albania: “We Albanians are very sensitive about our houses. We all want to [own] houses. That’s what it means to live well.”
This widespread desire for better living conditions drove Fondi BESA to introduce a new housing loan product in 2021, backed by an investment from MicroBuild. The initial rollout of this product faced challenges, as Alma notes: “We’d had the product for more than a year, but we were hardly disbursing any housing loans.”
Habitat for Humanity’s Human Resource Learning and Organisation Development (HRLOD) team participated in a build in Machakos County, Kenya. This is one of the special builds organised to give staff hands on experience in the field and make them connect with the mission.
Iryna, a new mother, found herself saying things she never expected. On an ordinary day in February, her life and her family’s life took a sudden turn. This one event forced her to make a decision that would change everything forever.
Habitat for Humanity partners up with Miyamoto Relief to provide crucial shelter support for displaced communities in Southern Turkey after a devastating earthquake.
On the 29th August 2023, ahead of the second EPBD trilogue under the Spanish Council Presidency, 67 civil society organisations, social, health and environmental NGOs, trade unions and youth movements across Europe have signed onto a joint statement calling on their elected representatives to deliver an ambitious and socially just EU Buildings Directive (EPBD) before the end of the year.
The findings of the research will inform the short, medium and long-term plans by the various stakeholders in the housing sector value chain, with expected positive transformation in uptake of affordable housing.