Habitat for Humanity Services

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Who We Are

Mission

Seeking to put God’s love into action, Habitat for Humanity brings people together to build homes, communities and hope.

Vision

A world where everyone has a decent place to live. 

Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley revitalizes neighborhoods, builds affordable and sustainable housing solutions, and empowers families through successful homeownership. Since 1986, we have partnered with volunteers, the community, and qualified families with limited incomes to strengthen communities in Alameda, Contra Costa, and Santa Clara Counties.

The Affordable Housing Need

Despite the crash in real estate prices across the country, the San Francisco Bay Area continues to be one of the most expensive and least affordable housing markets in the United States. Fewer than 40% of families in our service area can afford to purchase a home. For hard-working families whose earnings place them in the low to very-low income classification, finding a decent, affordable place to live in the San Francisco Bay Area is an extremely difficult, if not impossible task.

The current need for additional housing is unmet, and every day the number of families that are living in substandard housing continues to rise. As more families seek opportunities in the Bay Area and the population grows, the lack of affordable housing is becoming more pronounced and distressing. Families need homes. Our community needs solutions.

Who Habitat Serves

Over the past 26 years Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley has served over 380 low and very-low income families in Alameda, Contra Costa, and Santa Clara counties by providing affordable homeownership opportunities to low-income families who meet three criteria:

  • Earn an income between 30%-80% of area median income, as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
  • Have a need for housing.
  • Are willing to partner with Habitat for Humanity and contribute hundreds of hours of sweat equity hours to the construction of their own home, or their neighbor's home.

Based on these criteria our volunteer-based Family Selection Committee recommends families that will work to build a community of active homeowners.

How Habitat Works

Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley approaches the challenge of providing affordable homeownership opportunities to low-income families in an innovative way. Affordable homes are built using a large amount of volunteer labor, donated funds and materials. Then the homes are sold at affordable prices to qualifying low-income families.

Qualified families, selected on an equal opportunity basis, buy Habitat East Bay/Silicon Valley homes at affordable prices, through 30-year no-profit mortgages. In addition, each family contributes hundreds of hours of volunteer labor or “sweat equity” to the construction of their home. This "sweat equity" or "self-help" component of the program is a major investment on the part of the homeowner, and increases homeowner pride of ownership. "Sweat equity" can consist of home building as well as community projects and leadership development classes. Once the homes are sold to the partner families, the mortgage payments received by Habitat are then reinvested to help fund the construction of future Habitat homes.

Green Building

Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley builds homes that are not only affordable, but also sustainable. Habitat East Bay/Silicon Valley  builds using comprehensive green design. Many people think of solar panels when they think of green building, but the reality is that it encompasses much more. Green building is a whole house design that takes into account energy efficiency, smart use of building materials, water usage, and much more. Habitat East Bay/Silicon Valley builds green to take better care of the environment, Habitat homeowners and volunteers.

Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley  was the first Habitat affiliate in the Bay Area to begin building green in 2000 and have completed over 60 green homes in the area. As one of the leading Habitat affiliates in affordable green building in the U.S. we plan to continue innovating the way that affordable housing can be built green.

Our homes have been certified through California’s GreenPoint Rated system and some through the national Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification system, demonstrating that we are building to stringent national green building standards.

Volunteering

Volunteers play a critical role in our programs, and are involved in every aspect of our work, including:

  • Home construction
  • Work to select families
  • Support partner families in community building efforts
  • Drive fundraising efforts
  • Work on advocacy and community outreach
  • And more...

Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley recruits large numbers of volunteers to help construct Habitat East Bay homes, and in so doing strives to promote volunteerism as a collective community value. To date, nearly 60,000 volunteers have contributed over one million hours to help construct homes built by Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley.