We are Habitat for Humanity
East Bay/Silicon Valley

Homeownership offers the stability families need to build self-reliance and a strong foundation for future success. Homeowners are able to escape the anxiety of rent hikes and eviction threats, investing in themselves and creating a legacy for their families. Homeownership gives families with limited incomes the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty.

Homeownership is correlated with a host of positive success indicators:

• Children of homeowners have higher educational attainment.
• Young children of homeowners see higher achievement in math and reading, and exhibit fewer behavioral problems.
• Teenaged children of homeowners are more likely to stay in school.
• Homeowners’ children have higher lifetime annual incomes.

Dr. Megan Sandel of Boston University School of Medicine puts it in stark terms: “A safe, decent, affordable home is like a vaccine. It literally prevents disease.” Indeed, for many Habitat homeowners, their Habitat home is a radical departure from their previously overcrowded, hazardous, or substandard housing.

Studies have shown that stable, affordable housing is closely tied to health:

• Families with affordable housing options are at a lower risk of lead poisoning and exposure to mold and other allergens, which can trigger asthma
• When a family pays a high proportion of its income toward housing, health suffers as less income goes toward healthy food and health care expenses.
• The instability of renting can be disruptive to health care. Children without stable housing are more likely to use costly emergency services.
  Homeowners report greater life satisfaction, self-esteem, perceived control over their lives, and physical health.

In a challenging and unstable housing environment, families with limited incomes are often the most vulnerable to the whims of the market. These hardworking families face a daily, monthly struggle to meet their housing costs, while contending with a fear that an eviction, a rent hike, or simply an unanticipated expense will mean displacement.

For families like these, a stable, affordable place to call home means:

• The ability to put down roots in a community
• No disruption in schooling
• An investment in themselves – in their savings, in their education, in their retirement, in their passions, in the generations to come.

Homeowners have a refuge from the whims of an unpredictable rental market. As homeowners move less frequently than renters, they have the opportunity to become more deeply integrated into the fabric of a community. Homeownership lends greater stability to a neighborhood. Homeowners are more likely not only to build strong, stable lives for their own families, but for their communities as well.

Homeownership has strong connections to community:

• Homeowners spend more time and money in maintaining their homes, contributing to the value and image of a community.
• Homeowners are shown to be more involved in their communities, with a higher likelihood of volunteering.
• Homeowners are more likely to be politically active.