Program areas at MHFH
for 40 years, Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity has revitalized neighborhoods by providing safe, decent and affordable homeownership for hardworking families. Our community of volunteers has built, renovated and repaired over 1000 homes. This year, 16 new homes were built, 1 home was rehabilitated, 62 families received critical repairs to their homes and hundreds of other Milwaukee residents benefitted from community development projects.
Home preservation program: our home preservation program is an outreach initiative that seeks to provide a wide range of opportunities for low- to moderate-income homeowners, including veterans and seniors, who are struggling to maintain their homes because of age, disability or family circumstances. We partner with families to help them reclaim their homes with pride and dignity. The program allows families to stay in their home and avoid the uncertainty, trauma and expense of moving. Projects consist of interior and/or exterior repairs intended to alleviate critical health, life and safety issues or code violations. Volunteer teams work along with subcontractors under the direction of Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity staff members to complete repairs.
Milwaukee Habitat restores accept donations of new and saleable used building materials and home furnishings, most of which would otherwise be placed in a landfill. Some materials are used to build and renovate homes and the rest are sold to the public at 50-70% off the retail price. This year, the net profits from the Milwaukee Habitat restores provided enough income to build 11 homes.
Neighborhood revitalization program: through our neighborhood revitalization work, we tailor our efforts by partnering locally with residents and community leaders and organizations to best address the real concerns of the community and improve the lives of the people who live there. Using a data-driven and customizable approach, we focus on first understanding the concerns of the residents and then empowering these residents to lead the projects they want to see. Alongside Habitat, residents work with churches, schools, new and longstanding neighborhood coalitions, local government entities, and other community partners to achieve their goals. Because each neighborhood's challenges and aspirations are different, the framework acts as a guide that can be tailored to the goals of each community. That's why neighborhood revitalization can look like anything from developing public parks to organizing safety meetings with the local police department to rehabbing and reopening schools, stores and homes.