Over 60,000 Austinites live in substandard, overcrowded or cost-burdensome housing. Monthly rent often exceeds a family's monthly household income. Bills are juggled from one month to the next, families go without necessities and communities deteriorate into squalor when there is no hope of a better tomorrow. Habitat gives families who have no other hope of ever owning their own home the opportunity to achieve their dreams of a place to call home.

In 24 years of building homes in partnership with low-income families, Austin Habitat volunteers have created over 200 affordable new houses for people in need.

In 1998-1999, Austin Habitat built our first subdivision in the 6000 block of Montopolis Avenue, composed of 24 homes. Immediately following the completion of this project, Austin Habitat experienced a land crisis in which we were unable to locate available or affordable land. Throughout the next two years, Habitat struggled to locate property and initiated a study of land alternatives for the organization's future while continuing to build homes on the limited property that became available.

In 2002, the AHFH Board of Directors, approved both the purchase of a 10.2 acre land tract known as Devonshire Village and Austin Habitat's participation in a shared venture with a commercial tiered-income development. This subdivision is now in development and construction of homes is slated on the property beginning in 2008.  

While the in-fill lot search continues, AHFH sees our strategic future to be in subdivision projects such as these if we are to achieve true production capacity and fully address the Austin community's need for affordable housing.

Since 1992, Austin Habitat for Humanity has made 310 Comal in East Austin its home. An old laundry processing facility, converted by volunteers, created the administrative and construction offices as well as the Habitat ReStore, a pilot concept of establishing a retail sales warehouse of new and used building materials in Austin.

Today, the Original ReStore, the model for 500 ReStores nationwide, generates operational revenue and funding for affordable Austin Habitat homes. The administrative space is used to provide program management and education services to each low-income family Austin Habitat serves.

In order to better prepare each Habitat HomeBuyer for the experiences ahead, AHFH is expanding the educational components related to homeownership. The extremely high success rate of Habitat HomeBuyers meeting their mortgage obligations, even in difficult economic times, is directly attributable to the unique education component provided by Austin Habitat. Additional mandatory workshops and curriculum are being developed as well as extending the education workshops to community networks serving low-income residents outside the Habitat program. Together, we will create a financial awareness and greater ability to navigate sophisticated financial environments.