Habitat for Humanity St. Louis

TIn 1986 a group of dedicated citizens decided that it was time for them to start taking action against sub-standard housing in the City of St. Louis. It was then that the St. Louis chapter of Habitat for Humanity was born. In 1988 the first 2 homes were completed. The Habitat St. Louis affiliate has experienced steady growth each year following, with the exception of a few years in which production declined. But even then, the decline was not substantial and was because of a significant organizational change required for further growth (change in key leadership, move to new facility). Twenty one years later, Habitat for Humanity Saint Louis is now ranked 32nd of the top 100 affiliates by Habitat for Humanity International. We have grown from a volunteer staff of 2 working out of a church basement; to a staff of 23 administrative employees and a fully operational ReStore facility that employs 6. We currently serve over 4,000 active volunteers each year, filling more than 11,000 volunteer slots each build season, not counting the priceless work that is done by our many volunteer committees.

We are very proud of the growth that we have shown in the last 21 years. Although this journey has been staggering at times, as any growth period can be, it has also been a wonderful journey that has been responsible for forever changing the lives for 206, soon to be 231 St. Louis families.

The success of Habitat for Humanity St. Louis has been due to many factors, however, the three factors believed to be most important are highlighted here. First, we have now and have always had outstanding volunteer support and dedication. St. Louis is blessed with people that have huge hearts and are willing to donate their time and talents to help someone less fortunate realize the American dream of home ownership. From the very beginning, the volunteer support we received was outstanding. After all, it was volunteers who founded this organization and worked diligently for years to build it into the organization that it has become. Now, it is still the volunteers on who, we depend on to lead our construction groups, work on the various committees that run our organization, and manage our very successful special events that help sustain our bottom line. Volunteers continue to be the backbone of this organization. Without our volunteers, we simply could not exist.

Secondly, we have now, and have always had dedicated staff and leadership. Our organization has been fortunate throughout the years that even amidst the turnover, which has been nominal, the staff truly understands the mission of Habitat and has made a commitment to the organization’s success and growth. They understand that the growth we strive to meet each year is not just colorful lines on a PowerPoint chart, but it represents another child that will have a safe place to do his homework or invite friends over; another St. Louis family that will be able to have Thanksgiving dinner in their home and not at the local shelter. They “get it”. The diligence and dedication of Habitat staff members directly impacts the success of Habitat growth.

Habitat, unlike many organizations essentially is run by 9 functional committees. The Finance, Law, Construction, Project Development, Family Selection, Family Support, Special Events, Volunteer, and ReStore committees consist of volunteers that give their time and specific expertise to guiding the growth and development of the organization. Taken collectively, serving on each committee, there is enough expertise to govern the largest of corporations, and we are quite fortunate to have the benefit of their leadership to help guide us into the future. Couple these individuals with a dedicated 31-member Board of Directors and our committee of Development Council members all possessing the same outstanding professional caliber and you have the recipe for successful leadership. It is this very same leadership that has helped us to maintain a very low operational overhead. Currently, 87 cents from every dollar received from our donors goes directly into programs.

Thirdly, there is the financial support. We have the volunteers, the dedicated staff, and outstanding leadership, but none of this would be possible without the funding given by the St. Louis community. It is the money that is entrusted to us by the St. Louis community each year that make the growth chart and the construction plans go from paper on a Board Room table to a reality.

We now have an aggressive goal of building 50 homes per year by the year 2015, or 50 X 15. We need financial leadership from the St. Louis community of corporate and faith passed citizens to assist us in reaching this goal. We need your help.
Habitat, a 501(c)3, has helped over 725 parents and children build 206 homes. More than half of 206 homes built to-date were built during the past six years. Over the next 10 years, it is estimated that Habitat's services will touch an additional 422 families, or about 1,900 people. With over 1800 Habitat affiliates in the U.S., Habitat for Humanity St. Louis is proud to be ranked 32nd of the top 100 Habitat affiliates, which is due to exceptional fiscal responsibility, organization efficiency, and non-profit management.

At its inception in 1986, Habitat volunteer staff had to search for potential Habitat families. Today, more than 2,000 families eagerly come forward seeking our support, with hundreds having the patience to stay on our waiting list until funding becomes available to satisfy their need for affordable housing.

MISSION, GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Habitat is dedicated to eliminating substandard housing in St. Louis. This is accomplished by a comprehensive program that helps families who are determined to proactively better their lives by investing time and effort into actually building, owning a home, and becoming a contributing member of the community.

Habitat has a proven track record of fiscal responsibility, organizational efficiency, and non-profit management. The overarching goal is to aggressively keep up with the need for affordable housing. This goal is difficult, and reliant upon funding from the private sector, as Habitat does not receive any financial assistance in building our homes from the national or international Habitat affiliate, nor the United Way.

THE NEED
In September 2004, the U.S. Census Bureau released their latest study on poverty and reported that an additional 1.4 million Americans fell into poverty over that year, half of them children. This brings the number of people living in poverty to about 35 million people, which is 12.4% of the population. Of these, 30 million live with housing problems, and though 14.5 million qualify for government aid, only 4.1 million are actually receiving any.

Housing continues to be one of the most pressing problems facing families today. According to the St. Louis Housing Authority, there are over 5,000 people on the Section 8 waiting list – so many that the list has been closed for nearly a year. In the past five years, there’s been a 60% increase in families paying more than half of their income on housing – far beyond acceptable standards for housing costs vs. income.

Many families fall through the cracks and spiral downward, sometimes into desperate situations; inadequate housing sets off a domino effect, leading to a multitude of problems, including school and work absenteeism and insufficient healthcare. It’s no wonder that 2,000 families apply every year to Habitat in an attempt to rectify a very basic need – a home. All applicants are low-income, earning as little as 25% of the median income.

TARGET POPULATION
All Habitat families are extremely low-income, with annual incomes at 25 - 50% of the St. Louis median, essentially the working poor. Most are African-American, single parent households, with an average of 3.5 children each. Based on current Habitat families, 84% of the head of households are women, 16% are male. Most homeowners are currently living in sub-standard housing situations, while others may be homeless. Most homeowners are not only first time homeowners, but also first generational homeowners as well. Families must be currently living in sub-standard housing conditions in order to qualify for the program.

GEOGRAPHIC AREA SERVED
Habitat’s service areas include the City of St. Louis in its entirety, population 396,000, in addition to all of St. Louis County, population 1,009,300. To date, Habitat has built or rehabbed 141 homes in the City of St. Louis, and 19 homes in St. Louis County. All of the neighborhoods that Habitat has built in are considered to be “distressed communities”, as well as being located in community development target communities. Habitat continuously looks for new neighborhoods in the City of St. Louis and in St. Louis County to build in, keeping an emphasis on underserved communities, which is consistent with our mission to rebuild neighborhoods.

Habitat for Humanity International

Since its founding in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller, HFHI has built and rehabilitated more than 125,000 houses with families in need, sheltering more than 625,000 people in some 3,000 communities worldwide, becoming a true world leader in addressing the issues of poverty housing.

The concept was born at Koinonia Farm, a small, interracial, Christian farming community founded in 1942 outside of Americus, Ga., by farmer and biblical scholar Clarence Jordan. The Fullers first visited Koinonia in 1965, having recently left a successful business in Montgomery, Ala., and all the trappings of an affluent lifestyle to begin a new life of Christian service. At Koinonia, Jordan and Fuller developed the concept of "partnership housing" -- where those in need of adequate shelter would work side by side with volunteers to build simple, decent houses.

The houses would be built with no profit added and no interest charged. Building would be financed by a revolving Fund for Humanity. The fund's money would come from the new homeowners' house payments, donations and no-interest loans provided by supporters and money earned by fund-raising activities. The monies in the Fund for Humanity would be used to build more houses.

An open letter to the friends of Koinonia Farm told of the new future for Koinonia:

What the poor need is not charity but capital, not caseworkers but co-workers. And what the rich need is a wise, honorable and just way of divesting themselves of their overabundance. The Fund for Humanity will meet both of these needs. Money for the fund will come from shared gifts by those who feel they have more than they need and from non-interest bearing loans from those who cannot afford to make a gift but who do want to provide working capital for the disinherited... The fund will give away no money. It is not a handout.

In 1968, Koinonia laid out 42 half-acre house sites with four acres reserved as a community park and recreational area. Capital was donated from around the country to start the work. Homes were built and sold to families in need at no profit and no interest. The basic model of Habitat for Humanity was begun.

In 1984, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn took their first Habitat work trip, the Jimmy Carter Work Project, to New York City. Their personal involvement in Habitat's ministry brought the organization national visibility and sparked interest in Habitat's work across the nation. HFHI experienced a dramatic increase in the number of new affiliates around the country.

Through the work of Habitat, thousands of low-income families have found new hope in the form of affordable housing. Churches, community groups and others have joined together to successfully tackle a significant social problem -- decent housing for all.