From the President PDF Print E-mail

Dear Friends,

At Habitat, we are immersed in strategic planning and pondering how to focus our work to achieve the very best outcomes for our Habitat homebuyers and our communities. Of course, we must undertake this work in the face of explosive regional growth in the Twin Cities and a real estate environment subject to the vagaries of the marketplace. As I indicated in a recent Habitat Herald newsletter, we at Habitat want to be part of the Twin Cities Region effort to “close the gap” so that we can grow homeownership rates for all households of color that lag so far behind the region’s white homeownership rates.

 We think a key opportunity for our Habitat homebuyers is for Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity to purchase land for Habitat homes in fast growing suburban communities.  These suburban communities offer low income working families like our Habitat homebuyers safe and healthy neighborhoods, access to a growing job base, and excellent schools for their children. 

In turn, the communities receive the opportunity to create a high quality and lasting asset—a well built home, and create housing for the workers who work at jobs in their communities: nurse’s aides, groundskeepers, school bus drivers, janitors, child care workers, food servers, bank tellers and more.


Even as the real estate market softens in the Twin Cities, we realize that this region is still projected to grow by a million more residents by 2020. This type of rapid growth will mean that our suburban communities will be fully built in the blink of an eye. If we act now, we can still preserve some of this land for Habitat homes. We see an opportunity on the horizon to purchase land today before the real estate market expands and land prices escalate again. 


This idea of creating a land bank for future construction of Habitat homes is one of the “big ideas” we are exploring as we pursue our newest strategic plan. To bring this “big idea” of a land bank from a plan to a reality, Habitat must have access to capital. Stay tuned to learn more about how you can be a part of this “big idea” of a land bank so Habitat can provide hope to our Habitat homebuyers who want to be a part of the prosperity in the fast growing suburban communities in the Twin Cities region.

 We welcome your ideas, your resources, and your dreams for Habitat as we ponder together how we can tackle this challenge of eliminating poverty housing in the Twin Cities by opening wide the doors of economic opportunity for Habitat homebuyers to build and purchase homes throughout our region-- from Brooklyn Park to Woodbury and Chaska to Ramsey. 

I believe that we live in a time and place with a remarkable abundance of wealth, ideas and talent. If we have the will and tenacity to focus this remarkable abundance on our hopes and dreams to eliminate poverty housing, we will transform our communities to be places of opportunity for all families. 

 When we work together we make great things happen!

 

 Warmly, Sue

 
 
[ Back ]