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Jennifer and Olivia have peace of mind and greater financial security now that they’ve moved into affordable Habitat homes featuring solar panels installed with the support of a Whirlpool BuildBetter grant.
Jennifer and Olivia are both Cape Cod natives who planned to raise their children near family in the community they grew up in and loved. Now after working alongside Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod to build their own homes, that dream has come true.
Since moving into her Habitat home, Jennifer loves taking her 3-year-old son, Jax, outside. “The moment that means the most to me is sitting on my front porch watching my son play with a friend from the neighborhood,” says Jennifer, who works as a kitchen manager at a local restaurant. “I feel totally at peace with life because I finally accomplished something that I had been dreaming about – watching my son play in his own yard.”
That feeling of peace is shared by Olivia who recently moved into her own Habitat home with her daughters, 11-year-old Laveah and 8-year-old Tahlia. “I don’t have to worry about not being able to give them a roof over their head or my rent being raised,” Olivia says. “It’s just a calming reassurance that we’re going to be okay.”
Jennifer is elated to have a safe place for her son, Jax, to play now that they’ve moved into their Habitat home. “The moment that means the most to me is sitting on my front porch watching my son play with a friend from the neighborhood,” Jennifer says.
When Jennifer became pregnant, she and her partner, Felix, lived in an unsafe neighborhood in an apartment that had mold issues and rats. Finding a safe and affordable home in the area during that time, in the early days of the COVID pandemic, was impossible. The couple decided to move in with Jennifer’s parents to protect the health of their baby. “You cannot afford to work here and afford to live here because the cost of living is so much higher than what you make at a full-time job,” Jennifer says. “You and your partner have to work two or three jobs just to make enough to pay for a mortgage.”
Though Olivia had found a decent income-based apartment for her family, rent increases made it hard for her to save for a home of her own. “I’d been trying to do overtime to make a little bit more money, but when I made more, my rent went up,” says Olivia, who is a care provider at a group home for adults with intellectual disabilities.
I don’t have to worry about not being able to give them a roof over their head or my rent being raised. It’s just a calming reassurance that we’re going to be okay.— Olivia, Habitat homeowner
Now that they have homes where they can pay affordable mortgages, both Jennifer and Olivia are excited about the bright future ahead. Wendy Cullinan, Habitat Cape Cod president and CEO, says having fully electric homes with solar panels installed will play a big part in keeping costs affordable for the new homeowners.
“Building safe, affordable and sustainable homes benefits families and our environment,” Wendy says. “We were able to install solar panels on Jennifer and Olivia’s homes with the support of a BuildBetter with Whirlpool grant. Those solar panels will help lower their monthly utility costs and create a pathway for even greater financial security.”
Olivia’s daughters, Tahlia (left) and Laveah, have their own rooms and plenty of space to grow and thrive in their new Habitat home.
“To not have to worry about having so many different house-related bills because you have solar panels on your roof taking care of everything. I mean that’s amazing. It’s a huge stress relief,” Jennifer says.
The BuildBetter with Whirlpool initiative builds upon Habitat’s current efforts to help homeowners mitigate the impacts of climate change with more energy-efficient and disaster-resilient homes. Grants like the one that funded Jennifer and Olivia’s solar panels are intended to help promote safe and sustainable building across the U.S.
Olivia has peace of mind now that she and her daughters, Tahlia (left) and Laveah, have moved into a Habitat home where she can pay an affordable mortgage
Now that they have the strong foundation of affordable homeownership, Olivia and Jennifer are excited about working on their next goals. Olivia is planning to focus on advancing her career. “Now that I have the stability, I can take more classes and get a degree. I would love to do something in the behavioral health field,” she says.
Jennifer is looking forward to completing her schooling, too. “I’ve wanted to go back and finish my management degree at school,” she says. “I think that I can actually do that because now I can afford to pay for my last few classes to get my degree. That’s huge because I’ve wanted it forever.”
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.
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.
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.
Join us in influencing housing policies to improve home affordability.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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
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.
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.
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
It’s the homeownership model that sets the starter home approach apart:
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.”
