Check out this post from our partner organization Habitat for Humanity about World Habitat Day and the work they do to ensure affordable housing around the world and to help shape policies such as secure tenure.

-Margaret McDonnell

I just returned from Madagascar where I talked with a new homeowner and mother of four named Rebeka. Not too long ago she and her husband paid rent for a poorly maintained, tiny house that flooded during the rainy season, making sanitary conditions a nightmare. However, because the landlord refused to make improvements, the family did not want to invest in repairing the house for fear they would be evicted.

They now own a Habitat for Humanity house, and their mortgage is about the same as the previous rent. Secure tenure is one of the crucial issues for which Habitat for Humanity was advocating this week on World Habitat Day. It doesn’t make sense to build homes on land where families are not confident they can stay.

The day I met Rebeka, she was out clearing lots for future homeowners with more than 200 other people in the community. Those whose homes were already complete said they were grateful and that they wanted others to have the same chance they had. They wanted to make friends and show they were part of the community.

I also visited the Moramanga community, which is an urban slum upgrading project. Millions of Malagasy people live in poorly built, overcrowded houses (less than 20 square meters for an average household), without water and sanitation. This project developed by Habitat for Humanity of Madagascar, is aimed at giving people hope for a better life by constructing or renovating houses for 315 families, improving access to water and sanitation for 1,528 people, creating temporary jobs for 75 workers per year and training beneficiaries and local leaders on maintenance and management of the public infrastructures.

I was struck by the impact of simply building banked stone pathways to replace the narrow, muddy walkways. While this was not a traditional method for Habitat to serve families, I can see how the pathways have made a huge, positive impact on the village in the dry season. I can only imagine what the benefit will be when the rains come through.

Habitat for Humanity has provided shelter for more than 1.5 million people around the world since its founding in 1976. However, it is still unacceptable that 1.6 billion people around the world are living in substandard housing and that a billion people live in urban slums.

Habitat for Humanity believes that homeownership for low-income families is worth defending. Habitat homeowners make financial investments in their homes, which they also help build. Often improvements at one or two homes lead to positive changes for an entire area.

Go to our web site to learn more about our work in Madagascar and to discover ways that you can help families there and in other locations have a simple, decent place in which to live. Consider volunteering locally or going on a Global Village trip. Help us Build Louder by becoming an advocate for affordable housing around the world and helping to shape policies such as secure tenure.

-Jonathan T.M. Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International

Find out more by reading a new report called “The Shelter Report 2010: The Case for Low-income Homeowners.” This is a useful tool for those looking to understand the importance of owning a home. Full copies and an executive summary are available for download.

Last Friday, a group of ONE employees traded in their business casual clothes for real work clothes, volunteering our personal time to work with D.C. Habitat for Humanity in honor of World Habitat Day. We arrived bright and early at the construction site, not knowing what to expect. The Site Superintendent explained that D.C. Habitat for Humanity had purchased the land from the D.C. Government for $1 and was building a 53 home development for low-income families. Our focus was working on the six homes that are currently under construction. I thought we’d spend the day hammering but it turns out, there were many projects to work on. While my co-workers spent the day sanding, caulking and painting, I spent the day preparing the yards– removing rocks, breaking up the hard soil, shoveling topsoil, laying down sod –a lot more work than this apartment dweller is used to! To be honest, I was happy to be outside because it was such a beautiful day!

We were all impressed by the dedication of the Habitat for Humanity staff who led our groups. Most of them are AmeriCorps volunteers who work on these houses five days a week all year long despite heat, rain, cold, and snow! My group leader was actually on her second year of service to Habitat for Humanity.

At lunch time, Susan Corts Hill, the Director of Public Policy for Habitat for Humanity International, came out to tell us about their efforts to help families attain safe and affordable housing around the world. Globally, there are 1.6 billion people who suffer from some kind of shelter deprivation. (more…)

Check out this post from Habitat for Humanity’s Jeanette Stoltzfus about World Habitat Day next Monday!

-Chris Scott

As UN-Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon stated, “There are many other billions of people suffering from lack of affordable housing– all the facilities which make our lives decent. We must work together and generate the political will to have a smooth implementation of the Millennium Development Goals and I will work very closely, and harder than before.”

Monday, October 6th is World Habitat Day 2008, which makes this an ideal time to address the global housing crisis and think about the more than 1.6 billion people who suffer from some sort of shelter deprivation. Habitat for Humanity is engaged and we need you to join us.

Without access to adequate shelter, clean water or sanitation, upwards of 10 million people die each year from preventable diseases. In some parts of the world, entire families face forced eviction from property or land they own. But clean, decent, stable housing for everyone is not beyond reach if, starting today, we get energized and get involved…

• Partner with Habitat by building, educating, or advocating on World Habitat Day.
• Plug into events in your area .
• Plan your own event.
• Learn about secure tenure.
• Read about the history of World Habitat Day and other events taking place around the world.
• Even though billions worldwide face tremendous odds when it comes to housing, our next President can do something to greatly improve those odds. Join Habitat for Humanity in urging Senators Obama and McCain to, as President, make the U.S. a world leader in the battle for better housing for all.
• Email us at worldhabitatday@habitat.org with your questions, comments or suggestions.

On October 6th 2008, raise your voice, along with Habitat, and take a stand for everyone in need of adequate housing in cities, towns and rural communities in the U.S. and around the world.

-Jeanette Stoltzfus, Habitat for Humanity International

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The ONE Campaign, Habitat for Humanity, Opportunity International, and Women’s Edge Coalition came together to create a briefing for Hill staff at the Capitol Building today about the GROWTH Act. (S. 2069) Senators Durbin and Hutchison hosted the event, which we called: “Fighting Poverty with Common Sense: Investing in Women’s Economic Opportunity.”

The impressive turn-out led to a great joke by Susy Cheston, Senior Vice President for Policy at Opportunity International: After observing the standing -room-only crowd that had gathered in the back of the room, she remarked, “You should all receive a sticker that says, ‘I stood up for Women today!’”

Along with Susy Cheston were four other speakers, all with extensive knowledge and advice about empowering women to lift themselves, and their families, out of poverty. They were Nora O’Connell, Vice President for Global Development Policy at that Women’s Edge Coalition; Donne Cameron, Senior Director for International Programs for Habitat for Humanity; Shade Bembatoum-Young, Founder and Executive Director of African Sustainable Small Enterprise Export Development Foundation in Lagos, Nigeria; and S.K. Guha, Senior Program Specialist at UNIFEM.

The panelists discussed first-hand experiences, insight, and policy objectives relating to the GROWTH Act. The Act focuses U.S. international assistance on proven strategies to enable women to lift themselves and their families out of poverty. If passed, (more…)

This past Sunday, ONEorlando members partnered with several non-profit organizations for their ONE Community for HOPE event. Speakers from ONE, the HOPE Foundation, Heifer International, Habitat for Humanity, Second Harvest Food Banks and Seminole County Schools discussed the effects of poverty both locally and globally.

It was a family-oriented event with free food, games and prizes for kids (all donated by local businesses). Local schools, and residents ran a food drive that brought in more than 2,000 items for those in need in central Florida.

As always, I am touched by the amount of people that pull together and for these type of outreach events. And a very special thank you to the devoted ONE volunteers who stayed through one of Florida’s typical afternoon torrential rainstorms… and afterwards, in soaked clothes, went right back to advocating for our cause and receiving many new sign-ups and volunteers for our cause!

Go ONEorlando!

-Joan Faulkner, ONE Regional Organizer

Mother /Daughter ONE Volunteers Renee and Jannine

Mother-Daughter ONE Team

Angela Griner from Heifer International

Today – a billion people live in slums without shelter, clean water or sanitation.

Today is also World Habitat Day.

Below, an excerpt from a speech that Habitat for Humanity’s CEO Jonathan Reckford gave to the United Nations Human Settlements Program.

“On this World Habitat Day 2007, we call on all individuals, organizations and governments to take a stand…to say YES, we CAN, as a caring global community, slam the door on poverty housing.

I am pleased that UN-HABITAT and Habitat for Humanity were the first signatories to a World Habitat Day 2007 proclamation that unites organizations around the cause of housing. If I may, I would like to close by voicing that proclamation.

For the first time in history, over half of humanity is living in cities and towns. Since time immemorial, cities have been centers of cultural and economic vitality. But today, one-third of the urban population—a staggering 1 billion people—lives in slums without adequate shelter, clean water or sanitation. If we factor in the condition of human settlements in rural areas worldwide, more than 1.6 billion people suffer some form of shelter deprivation.

As a direct result each year, up to 10 million people die from preventable diseases. Infants die. Children suffer at school. Parents cannot make ends meet. Families are robbed of the dignity every human being deserves. Yet too often their suffering goes unseen, their voices unheard.

On the occasion of World Habitat Day 2007, we declare that the lack of decent, affordable housing is unacceptable. Durable, affordable housing can and should be made a priority everywhere. We call upon the citizens of our global village to take a stand against substandard shelter in our communities, in our countries, and in our world. Together we can slam the door on poverty housing and open the door to a world in which everyone enjoys the stability, the security and the dignity of a decent, affordable home.”

Read the full speech below.

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