Habitat for Humanity helped more than 3 million people build or improve a place to call home during past year

Since 1976, the global housing nonprofit has worked alongside more than 62 million people around the world.

ATLANTA, Nov. 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — An improved place to call home can lead to better health outcomes and peace of mind for a family. Every culture faces unique barriers to affordable home repair, and in Peru just the first step of finding a trusted contractor to take on a project can often be the most challenging.

Peruvians tend to build homes incrementally and word-of-mouth recommendations are usually trusted more than official certifications. To help meet residents where they are, Habitat for Humanity’s Terwilliger Center of Innovation in Shelter partnered with a local developer to create a coalition of trusted builders, known as Guardian Constructor.

In just two years, the coalition has connected more than 4,000 families with vetted construction professionals—families like Brenda’s. Brenda and her husband built a one-bedroom house with their own hands, but when it came time to expand and plan for the future, she needed a trusted construction company that understood her needs and her budget. Through Guardian Constructor, she selected a local design and construction firm who completed the project in ten weeks. Following her experience, Brenda is planning to add a second floor someday with the help of Guardian Constructor.

This story is highlighted in Habitat for Humanity International’s fiscal year 2024 annual report, released today by the global housing nonprofit.

In 2024, Habitat for Humanity helped 3 million people build or improve a place to call home. An additional 5.3 million people gained the potential to improve their housing conditions through training programs and advocacy work driven by Habitat in local communities.

“This year, thanks to the tireless efforts of homeowners, volunteers, supporters, advocates and staff, Habitat reached families in new ways to help power our vision of a world where everyone has a decent place to live,” said Jonathan Reckford, chief executive officer at Habitat for Humanity International. “Building and improving homes will always remain the core of Habitat’s work, and this year our colleagues across the globe continued to demonstrate the critical importance of advocacy and bridgebuilding to our mission. In the face of a global housing crisis, the Habitat network stepped up time and time again to work alongside more families in more communities around the world.”

Thanks to the generous support of donors and partners, Habitat piloted new programs and improved others to meet the housing need in communities around the world.

Habitat’s Home Equals campaign, a five-year global effort that aims to help 15 million residents of informal settlements access safe, adequate housing, continued in its second year. To date, the campaign has impacted nearly 3 million people and has seen Habitat entities successfully advocate for more than 50 policy or systems changes in 12 countries.

Habitat also wrapped Cost of Home, a five-year U.S. advocacy campaign, in June. Through the campaign, more than 400 state and local Habitat organizations united to advance over 500 policy and system changes at all levels of government, resulting in more than 9.5 million people gaining increased access to home affordability and stability. Thanks to the work of affiliates enrolled in Habitat’s first U.S. advocacy campaign, $23.6 billion in government funding was generated or allocated.

Habitat works to ensure that — even as we build — a growing number of existing homes remain affordable. More than 120 Habitat affiliates are implementing a lasting affordability model, including 26 affiliates that have invested in or created their own community land trusts. Lasting affordability efforts keep housing prices in reach across generations, enable homeowners to gain equity and share in value appreciation over time, help residents with low or modest incomes avoid displacement, and avert gentrification of communities.

And in Central Eastern Europe, Habitat is improving energy efficiency in multifamily apartment buildings through ComActivate, a three-year, US$2.2 million (€2 million) consortium program. The program creates local resource centers to provide guidance, engage advocates, and develop neighborhood-specific road maps to reduce energy poverty, lower residents’ utility costs and decrease the carbon footprint. ComActivate is being implemented with pilot resource centers in four municipalities across Hungary, Bulgaria and Lithuania. These initial efforts focus on 1,179 multifamily buildings and will reach almost 90,000 residents.

“The milestones and accomplishments detailed in our annual report were achieved by bringing people together,” Reckford said. “These are the shared successes of more than 910,000 volunteers who helped build, advocate and raise awareness about the global need for shelter in the past year. To everyone who worked alongside Habitat and its families this year, thank you.”

The FY2024 annual report also provides detailed information about Habitat for Humanity International’s activities and financials for the period between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024, along with the network of Habitat affiliates in all 50 states in the U.S. and national organizations and program partnerships in more than 70 countries.

In fiscal year 2024, Habitat reported US$362 million in revenue, along with an estimated US$3.1 billion in total revenue through the organization’s federated network of Habitat organizations in the U.S. and around the world. The audited financial statements are published alongside the annual report at https://www.habitat.org/about/annual-reports-990s.

About Habitat for Humanity

Driven by the vision that everyone needs a decent place to live, Habitat for Humanity found its earliest inspirations as a grassroots movement on an interracial community farm in south Georgia. Since its founding in 1976, the Christian housing organization has since grown to become a leading global nonprofit working in local communities across all 50 states in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and more than 70 countries. Families and individuals in need of a hand up partner with Habitat for Humanity to build or improve a place they can call home. Habitat homeowners help build their own homes alongside volunteers and pay an affordable mortgage. Through financial support, volunteering or adding a voice to support affordable housing, everyone can help families achieve the strength, stability and self-reliance they need to build better lives for themselves. Through shelter, we empower. To learn more, visit habitat.org.