Habitat for Humanity of Orange County   

In 1988, Habitat OC became part of the global, nonprofit housing organization whose mission is to put love and faith into action by building homes, communities, and hope. As an independent 501c3 nonprofit organization, Habitat OC is dedicated to eliminating substandard housing locally through constructing, rehabilitating and preserving homes throughout Orange County; by advocating for fair and just housing policies; and by providing training and access to resources to help families improve their shelter conditions. This multilevel approach has ideally positioned Habitat OC at the center of the affordable housing issue – rendering us uniquely qualified to make a mark on affordable homeownership in Orange County. Habitat OC has built 237 homes for families throughout Orange County.  Habitat OC aims to help rectify the ever-increasing gap between affordable housing needs and availability throughout Orange County; making homeownership possible for working families is at the heart of everything we do. The overarching goal of our Affordable Housing Program is the creation and preservation of affordable homeownership. To meet that programmatic goal, we aim to increase the number of families and economically disadvantaged individuals stably housed in their own homes every year through a three-pronged approach of Home Building, Home Repair, and Home Buyback. There is a common misconception that Habitat OC gives homes away for free when actually we leverage volunteer power, sweat equity, reduced building costs, and land-lease partnerships in order to enable qualified LMI homebuyers to purchase a quality, affordable home. For LMI homeowners living in homes in need of critical repair, Habitat OC has partnered with cities throughout Orange County to help rehabilitate homes for qualified vulnerable populations, including veterans and seniors. Our goal is to improve neighborhoods by providing homeowners with much needed repairs – focusing on health, safety and accessibility. Some Habitat homeowners stay in their Habitat home for decades; others parlay this first home into other homeownership opportunities, choosing to sell their Habitat home and move on to market rate opportunities. In that case, Habitat OC maintains a Home Buyback program, enabling us to buy back and resell Habitat-built homes, increasing the inventory of affordable houses on the market by every means possible. Through our comprehensive triad approach, Habitat OC’s Affordable Housing Program plays an integral role in creating and maintaining affordable homeownership opportunities for Orange County’s LMI families.