OWNnyc

Organization Name: Habitat for Humanity New York City

Project Title: OWNnyc

Project Location: Citywide

Project Goals:
Utilizing the classic sweat-equity model, Habitat NYC seeks to transform lives by building quality homes for ownership WITH hard-working, low-income families as the City’s last true Self-Help Homeownership organization. Engaging volunteers from all walks of life, Habitat NYC is repairing storm-damaged homes, rehabilitating vacant dilapidated houses, and preparing to construct the largest Habitat building in the world. In a City of renters, we seek to show that affordable homeownership is both possible and essential for our City and neighborhoods to thrive. We call on all New Yorkers to join us in raising our Hammers and our Voices for the cause of Affordable Homeownership in NYC.

Project Description:
Habitat for Humanity New York City knows the life-changing power of affordable homeownership and seeks to bring this important slice of the housing continuum back as a key strategy in battling the City’s housing crisis. We seek to accomplish this by continuing our important efforts repairing, rehabilitating, and constructing small-scale, infill projects, but dramatically expanding our impact through much larger, multi-family homeownership development throughout the City. We seek to accomplish this through strategic partnerships with the City and State, but also through collaboration with other housing developers, socially-minded corporations, faith and community-based organizations, and the next generation of young leaders. Yet in order to grow our mission’s scale and impact, it will take robust advocacy and enduring volunteer support.

Community Impact:
Imagine a City in which only the wealthiest among us have the opportunity to own their own homes…to build assets that they can pass on to their children and grandchildren. Meanwhile, more than two-thirds of the City’s hard-working families continue to pay a large portion of their earnings on rent, unable to access their first home in the City to which they’ve invested their lives. As gentrification continues and more and more neighborhoods grow unaffordable to most low-income New Yorkers, affordable homeownership provides an opportunity for families and individuals the chance to break into the middle-class and remain in the communities they’ve grown up in. Yet without this opportunity, the City will continue to see low-income families pushed outside the bounds of affordability, seniors reach retirement with limited net-assets, and our neighborhoods pursue equitable communities without access to equity.

Organization Description:
Habitat for Humanity NYC Vision: A city where everyone has a decent place to live.  Habitat for Humanity NYC Mission: Habitat for Humanity New York City transforms lives by building quality homes with families in need and by uniting all New Yorkers around the cause of affordable housing. Our History: Founded in 1984 as an independent affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, Habitat NYC builds in the five boroughs of New York City, building homes for ownership by families and individuals in need. With the help of thousands of volunteers every year, Habitat NYC has served more than 380 families in the five boroughs of New York City with their permanent housing needs. Habitat NYC's first project in New York City began with President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter's visit and build in the Lower East Side.