We know that building one decent home in a blighted neighborhood, while a good start, is not the only help a community needs. And so our focus over the past 5 years has evolved into establishing a Neighborhood Revitalization (NR) program based upon learnings from Habitat affiliates across the country and community development experts on creating change that leads to an improved quality of life.

Neighborhood Revitalization combines building new homes, rehabbing homes and selling them for home ownership; and repairing and weatherizing existing homes with the need to build a sense of community, social cohesion, and collective action in order to create strong, stable, and sustainable communities.

We offer expertise in partnerships and affordable housing. Partnering with residents and other organizations helps ensure that Habitat’s work — from home repair to education workshops, from new houses to building picnic tables in the park — improves communities in a way that makes a lasting impact on the quality of life of its residents.

What is Neighborhood Revitalization?

We believe that everyone deserves a decent and affordable place to call home. That’s why we work to improve and empower individuals and communities through shelter. Habitat’s decades of work illustrate that individuals and families thrive when they have a safe and stable home in a safe and stable community. Participating in neighborhood revitalization work allows Habitat to fully embrace our mission – to build homes, communities and hope.

The goal of Neighborhood Revitalization is to improve communities in a way that makes a lasting impact on the quality of life of its residents. The tools of this work include increasing homeownership in a community through new builds or rehabilitation of vacant homes, owner occupied home repair, and working with community partners to support the hopes and dreams of the residents. From hosting an education and resource fair, or partnering to improve community gathering spaces, such as an underutilized park, these efforts can take a different shape, based on the aspirations of the community.

To learn more about our long-term Neighborhood Revitalization goals, check out our Strategic Plan here.