Habitat has built or renovated more than 800,000 homes around the world, providing more than 4 million people with safe, decent, affordable shelter. Habitat was founded in 1976 by Millard Fuller along with his wife, Linda.
How does it work?
Through volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, Habitat builds and rehabilitates simple, decent houses with the help of the homeowner families. Habitat houses are then sold to partner families at no profit and financed with affordable loans. The homeowners’ monthly mortgage payments go into a Revolving Fund that is used to build or renovate still more Habitat houses.
ECA poverty housing facts:
- In Central Asia, half of the urban poor live in slum conditions.
- In Hungary, over 1.2 million people live in overcrowded conditions.
- In Kyrgyzstan, less than 20% of the rural population has access to running water in their homes.
- The world is experiencing a global housing crisis. About 1.6 billion people globally live in substandard housing and 100 million are homeless, according to the United Nations. If no serious action is taken, the United Nations reports that the number of slum dwellers worldwide will increase over the next 30 years to nearly 2 billion.
Impact of poverty housing
Poverty housing affects people’s health and well-being, their job prospects and ability to make a living. It locks people into a cycle of poverty.
It also holds children back from fulfilling their potential: children living in bad housing are more likely to suffer from serious health problems, to have learning difficulties and miss school and to face unemployment and poverty later in life.
The impact on children’s development is both immediate and long-term. Growing up in poor or overcrowded housing has been found to have a lasting impact on a child’s health and well-being throughout their life (Lisa Harker, “Chance of a Lifetime: The impact of bad housing on children’s lives” 1.5MB .pdf)
Breaking the cycle of poverty
Habitat for Humanity has shown that building homes does more than put a roof over someone’s head. In clean, decent, stable housing:
- Families can provide stability for their children.
- A family’s sense of dignity and pride grow.
- Health, physical safety, and security improve.
- Educational and job prospects increase.