Cost of Home

1 in 7 Colorado families pay more than 50% of their income on housing.

What is Cost of Home? Cost of Home is a five-year campaign launched by Habitat International to mobilize local Habitat organizations, partners, volunteers, and community members across the nation to find solutions and create policies that will allow 10 million individuals to have access to affordable homes. This month (June 2022), we celebrate the 3rd year of this campaign.

How will it work? This campaign will improve home affordability by promoting policy and systems change in 4 key areas:

  1. supply and preservation of affordable homes,

  2. access to credit,

  3. land use,

  4. communities of opportunity

Who should participate? Habitat looks to engage housing advocates, Habitat homeowners, volunteers and supporters, as well as federal, state and local policymakers to advance access to safe, decent and affordable homes.

Why is it important? Today 1 in 7 families pays more than half of their income on rent or mortgage. Families are forced to choose between paying for housing, nutritious food, reliable transportation, and healthcare needs. This is unacceptable. Your home should not cost you anywhere near half your paycheck. Your home should not cost you your health or your child’s education. When the cost of home is your family’s future, the cost is too high.

How does Advancing Black Homeownership Initiative fit into this campaign? Aspiring Black homeowners are most deeply impacted by the effects of systemic racial discrimination in housing practices such as redlining and inequitable access to mortgage credit. Habitat seeks to make our commitment to Black homeowners explicit, and leverage dollars to dismantle the barriers to homeownership.

Advancing Black Homeownership

For over 40 years, Habitat has worked to create a world where everyone has a decent place to live. Our ministry finds its roots in Koinonia Farm, a racially integrated working farm in the fertile lands outside Americus, Georgia in 1942. Today, we remain committed to advancing racial equity.

Black homeowners now comprise 43% of families helped by Habitat in 2021. Historically, Black families are less likely to own their home than white families. This is due to pernicious and systemic racial discrimination in the housing system.

Habitat International started the Advancing Black Homeownership initiative to help close the homeownership gap for Black American families. As an established and experienced leader in the housing industry, Habitat is in a unique position to increase Black homeownership. Removing barriers to Black homeownership benefits all of us, allowing families and communities to thrive. This ensures business owners can set up shop locally, emergency personnel can live where they serve, and teachers can live where they teach. When our neighbors own affordable homes, they can fuel economic growth by spending more on goods and services locally.

How can you participate?