52 South Bay Accent
COURTESY OF HABITAT FOR HUMANITY EBSV (3)
‘People say we give away
homes. We don’t. The
only thing we give away is
opportunity. We offer hand ups, not
handouts. And that hand up is often
a lifeline in helping these people find
an affordable place to live.’
don’t have a landlord anymore. They’re it.”
She points out that this education has
truly paid off through the years, even in
tough economic times, with many Habitat
families learning how to save and handle
their finances, often even better than many
of those buying their homes at market rate.
“It was interesting during the recession,
as we were watching the nation’s foreclosure
rates just skyrocket,” Jensen recalls. “Habitat
nationwide didn’t spike like that. It held
to about a 2 percent default rate, which
is really low, crazy low, for that time. But
I think one of the reasons is that Habitat
affiliates work so closely with buyers. The
last thing we want to do is put a family
in a home where they’re not going to be
successful. That makes for a much more
stable housing environment.”
IMPACT BEYOND HOUSING
For those families who are lucky enough
to get a home, the impact goes far beyond
finding a safe, affordable place to live. According
to a social impact study commissioned
by Habitat EBSV and conducted
by an independent research firm, families
living in these homes show dramatic improvements
in health and well-being, along
with increases in income and household,
retirement and education savings. The high
school graduation rate for residents exceeds
the national average and kids in these homes
tend to surpass the education level of the
previous generation. (For more findings
of the study, see accompanying sidebar.)
Habitat EBSV also commissioned an
economic impact study by another independent
group several years ago, which