Habitat for Humanity receives $2.48 million award to fund development in under-resourced communities
6 ways to advocate for affordable housing
Whether you’ve advocated before or are just getting started, you have the power to impact housing policies. Here are six overarching practices to keep in mind as you advocate for adequate, affordable housing.
No matter where you live — whether you’ve advocated before or are just getting started — you have the power to influence housing policies and solutions to create large scale impact.
And it’s a lot easier than you might think!
With Habitat for Humanity, you can add your much-needed voice to the work that’s enabling housing affordability in your community and those around the world.
Jump in — here are six overarching practices to keep in mind as you advocate for adequate, affordable housing.
1. Learn.
You don’t need to be an expert on housing, but it would benefit you to have a general understanding of your local housing issues, particularly as they pertain to the most underserved in your community.
Learn more about your community by following local news, signing up for relevant community newsletters, watching or attending meetings with elected officials, and following social media accounts that cover local issues.
2. Connect.
Start small. Reach out to your local representative or official by email, handwritten note or phone call. Simply introduce yourself and let them know that you care about adequate, affordable housing.
Introducing yourself to policymakers can be a powerful way to push housing higher up on their agenda.
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Join us in influencing housing policies to improve home affordability.
3. Share.
Everyone has a relationship with housing, and it can be impactful to share why housing is important to you.
Share your housing story (what housing has meant to you or why you advocate for affordable housing) with friends, neighbors and local officials and invite them to share their story in return.
4. Join.
Find local organizations, like Habitat, already advocating for adequate, affordable housing in your community. Existing housing groups and coalitions can facilitate events, help shape policy priorities and connect you with community members with similar interests.
5. Mobilize.
Encourage your friends, family and neighbors to join in your efforts for adequate, affordable housing. More housing advocates taking action means more and better housing policies.
6. Celebrate and reflect.
Meaningful change can often take time. Remember to pace yourself and cherish every win — big or small — along the way. If wins are slow to come, reflect on the relationships you’ve built through advocacy within your community and know that every action you take is a step in the right direction.
Habitat’s advocacy in action
Habitat has seen just how powerful housing advocates are in shaping their communities.
For example, Habitat Wake County in North Carolina leads an advocacy ambassador program that equips residents with tools and resources to be effective changemakers. Advocacy ambassadors attend trainings to prepare for a local lobby day where Habitat volunteers raise housing-related concerns with elected officials.
With support from local advocates, Habitat Wake’s efforts have led to many notable wins, including helping to secure $80 million for an affordable housing bond in Raleigh, North Carolina.
In South America, Habitat Brazil became a key member of the global Zero Evictions Campaign. With Habitat’s help, residents brought awareness to the roughly half a million Brazilians facing the threat of eviction through public demonstrations, petitions, handwritten letters and media coverage.
The residents’ advocacy work influenced their Supreme Court to place nationwide moratoriums on evictions, which Habitat Brazil estimates prevented 160,000 forced evictions.
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6 ways to advocate for affordable housing
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Starter home model revolutionizes affordable housing in Flagstaff
Habitat for Humanity Northern Arizona is building 500-square foot starter homes to bring more affordable housing options to Flagstaff, Arizona. An affordable down payment and an equity savings program are just two of the many features that make the affiliate’s starter home model so transformative.
Story at a glance
- The housing affordability crisis is making it difficult for cities across the U.S. to recruit and retain essential community workers, including police officers and teachers.
- Habitat Northern Arizona is increasing the supply of affordable housing by building entry-level starter homes while driving down building costs, which are a nationwide barrier to building affordable housing.
- This starter home approach is set apart by energy-efficient, open-concept home designs as well as an innovative equity savings program.
Like many communities in the U.S., the city of Flagstaff, Arizona, is facing a housing affordability crisis. The cost of housing in the popular mountain city has reached record highs, with the median home price soaring to $650,000.
Meanwhile, the dearth of affordable housing has made it difficult for the city to recruit and retain essential community workers, such as teachers, police officers and firefighters. They simply can’t afford to live in Flagstaff.
Tucker is the first homeowner to move into one of Habitat Northern Arizona’s new loft-style starter homes. “It’s the best thing I could ask for,” Tucker says.
Starter homes at scale
Habitat Northern Arizona created an innovative response to their community’s tremendous need for affordable housing: the starter home model.
By 2028, they plan to build 50 starter homes — simple and efficient 500-square-foot residences — and procure enough land partnerships for 50 more. The new starter homes will increase the affordable housing stock and keep low-wage earners rooted in Flagstaff.
Habitat Flagstaff’s 500-square-foot starter homes feature a lofted bedroom, kitchen, full bathroom, living area and 23-foot vaulted ceilings.
“We loved the idea that a small concept home would allow us to build more with the same budget,” says Eric Wolverton, CEO at Habitat Northern Arizona. “We found a way to take equity and turn it into a savings program that homeowners can actually use to cash out when they outgrow their starter home.”
Through key partnerships with local organizations, volunteers and land donors, Habitat Northern Arizona was also able to scale their starter homes by driving down labor and construction costs — a nationwide barrier to building affordable housing.
The first two starter homes were constructed by local Coconino Community College students and installed on land donated by the city’s Land Trust Program. Course instructor Ken Myers says his students’ role inspired the next generation of homebuilders — two students who helped build the first starter home have already launched their own contracting companies.
More land was donated to Habitat Northern Arizona when a private developer scratched plans to build 10 affordable homes on three acres of land after learning the affiliate could leverage the same space to build 48 starter homes.
Starter homes: A closer look at the design
The open-concept house features a lofted bedroom, living area, kitchen and full bathroom.
Local architect and former Habitat Northern Arizona board president Karl Eberhard designed the structure with vaulted 23-foot ceilings and large windows to offer a spacious feel with plenty of natural light. The homes are also all-electric and equipped with solar panels and thermal insulation to keep energy costs low. Habitat affiliates can customize the design to fit construction contexts.
“We found a way to take equity and turn it into a savings program that homeowners can actually use to cash out when they outgrow their starter home.”— Eric Wolverton, Habitat Northern Arizona CEO
The innovative homeownership model
It’s the homeownership model that sets the starter home approach apart:
- Affordable down payment: Homebuyers purchase the house with just a $1,000 down payment, immediately reducing a major barrier to entry for many low-income home seekers.
- Monthly principal payments funneled into savings account: Homeowners put $833 in monthly principal payments into a savings account, which is set aside for the homeowner to access once they move out.
- Occupancy for 3-10 years: Starter homes serve as a medium-term place to increase savings and get low-income home seekers onto the housing continuum.
- Deed-restricted home: Habitat Northern Arizona reserves the right to the property when a homeowner moves out, ensuring another low-income Flagstaff resident can buy the starter home.
- Payout upon moving out: When a homeowner moves out, Habitat Northern Arizona pays them for the principal they’ve invested into the starter home – $10,000 annually for each year they lived there.
Residents can already feel the model’s impact — Tucker, who was the first to move into one of the starter homes, describes his new space as “just perfect.” He can’t wait to share his home with Aria, his 9-year-old daughter who lives with her mother in Colorado, when she visits him for the summer.
“It’s the best thing I could ask for. That’s what any parent would want, to provide good housing and a good life for their children,” Tucker says. “It’s even better knowing this house gets passed on to someone else, and I’ll move somewhere else and actually have the financial means to do that.”
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Starter home model revolutionizes affordable housing in Flagstaff
Starter home model revolutionizes affordable housing in Flagstaff
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Lowe’s to make $6 million donation to Habitat for Humanity to support home repair and rehab projects across U.S.
