Habitat for Humanity - Asheville Area HFH

The organization builds and sells homes for families in need of safe, well-built, and affordable housing. Construction and sale of 15 homes, plus the sale of a repurchased Habitat home, were completed during the fiscal year ending june 30, 2023. In addition to completing 4 "aging in place" style homes with accessibility features geared toward aging seniors and people with disabilities, the organization built and sold 4 side-by-side townhomes to increase the number of families served in the same community. These walkouts were a new model as well; they were introduced to accomodate building on steeper hillsides. Also during the year, infrastructure development in a second new community accelerated, thereby setting the stage for the building of 34 homes beginning in july 2023. In december 2021, the organization successfully merged with a neighboring county's affiliate and is building 1 home there to be completed during the middle of the fiscal year ending june 30, 2024 with the support of local leaders and volunteers. A second home will be built in the same community during the fiscal year ending june 30, 2025. The organization is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion and works every day to close the racial gap and to widen the availability of affordable housing to all. With 23 adults and 23 children served, 5 families had non-white members, 7 homes were headed by a single parent, 6 seniors took advantage of aging-in-place homes, and 1 veteran and 1 disabled person were served. The program supported families in the range of 40%-60% average median income, with a year-end average of 58%. Volunteers donated 27,528 hours of their time to the new home construction sites.the organization also helped to keep 76 families in existing homes through a variety of repairs: roofing, heating/cooling, kitchen and bath, eletric and plumbing, siding and accessibility. The homeowners, 70% of them older adults, were served this year. This includes the homes of 44 families headed by women. 10 children were served, as were 7 veterans and 11 disabled owners or household members. Candidates must be below 70% of the hud Area median income and contribute a small fee based on one month's income. This year's families served had an average median income of 37%. Support for the program is provided by donors and by the contributions of local public fundraising organizations. The ongoing success of the program is due to the hard work from the organization's staff and by a number of dedicated volunteers giving 3,027 hours of their time.the organization runs 2 restores, a traditional source of net income to support the mission. Products include donations of gently used home goods, furniture, books, art, music, jewelry, electronics, and appliances, as well as building supplies. The main location also holds periodic auctions, offering unique and valuable items. Both stores recorded double-digit year-to-year increased revenues and the newest store recorded an 18% increase in sales following $1,000,000 year-to-date sales for the first time last year. A program lauch this year was the creation of an online store. Additionally, the stores diverted 2,794 tons of goods from the local landfill and provides certified living wages and generous benefits to its employees in a low wage county. Volunteer opportunities abounded with 22,522 hours of service in the fiscal year. The stores also make monthly donations totaling $24,683 to local charities via a "round-up" program that allows customers to supplement their purchases with additional funds in support of Area groups providing a variety of services to the underserved community.the organization was fortunate to be a recipient of 2 major awards during the fiscal year ending june 30, 2023 that will be used for fund development and will have a lasting impact for the next few years. The mackenzie scott foundation provided a gift of $5 million to the affiliate as part of its larger gift of $436 million to Habitat for Humanity international and its affiliates. This impactful gift will be used judiciously to accelerate the building of homes, provide support for delayed infrastructure projects, and most importantly to guarantee the availability of funds to purchase land. Affordable land is in short supply in a mountain community that is experiencing burgeoning development, high home prices, low availability, and above north carolina average rental prices. The second award, a pass-through grant through the county government, provided $1.6 million in american rescue plan act funds for infrastructure completion at one of two affordable housing developments, and is supporting $1 million to complete the first 50% of infrastructure development at the second development.a total of 54,982 hours were donated during the fiscal year ending june 30, 2023, which is a post-covid record. Volunteers helped out in all areas of the affiliate: new home construction, existing home repairs, restore, and administration.