Habitat for Humanity - Northern Ocean

Northern Ocean Habitats ReStore: This is a 15,000-square-foot thrift retail shop located on Route 37 in Toms River. The ReStore provides affordable furniture and home goods for the community, and we accept vouchers from the Ocean County Board of Social Services for purchases. This social enterprise generates a lot of foot traffic and averages 2,800 sales transactions per month, where income supports our build and repair programs. In 2023, the ReStore Facebook Group that posts new inventory daily reached over 11,000 members, and the store diverted 665 tons of material out of landfills.

Northern Ocean Habitat for Humanitys Critical Home Repair and Preservation program is aligned with Habitat's nationwide house preservation initiative, promoting service to moderate-to-low-income homeowners who struggle to maintain the interior and exterior of their homes. A Brush with Kindness is part of Habitat's broader Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative that enables affiliates to offer a wide variety of solutions for the Home Preservation program. It focuses on exterior work such as painting, minor exterior repairs, landscaping, power washing, and exterior clean-up. This program encourages connections within the community, expands opportunities for volunteer engagement, and, most importantly, helps preserve affordable housing stock. Additionally, these preservation services expand to community partners such as 21 Plus and The Ocean County Arc to support their locations to help them better serve their missions. Northern Ocean Habitat for Humanity has been certified as Housing Plus Aging in Place by Habitat for Humanity International, which is a holistic approach to help senior homeowners age-in-place with a social worker asking the homeowners ADLs and IADLs to help connect them with wraparound services.

Homeownership Program: Families in need of a decent place to live, build safe and affordable homes partner with us to realize their dream of homeownership. Habitat houses are modestly sized. They are large enough for the homeowner familys needs, but small enough to keep utilities, construction, and maintenance costs affordable. Habitat makes its houses affordable for low-income families to purchase by using the labor of volunteers and prospective homeowners, employing efficient build methods, keeping house sizes modest, using donated construction materials and appliances, and issuing no-profit loans. Affordable homeownership helps create the conditions that free families from instability, stress, and fear and encourage self-reliance and confidence. During the fiscal year 2022, Northern Ocean Habitat served a family of four through its long-term homeownership program and built a total of 20 homes in total with this program.