Reflections on Habitat, Affordable Housing, and Volunteering
Some of you might remember (or my new friends are finding out right now) that several years back I went to Anchorage, Alaska in the summer to build houses with Habitat for Humanity. That trip was absolutely life-changing for a lot of reasons. I traveled throughout the state with 24 other people, slept on air mattresses, church pews, a pebbled island beach, and a 12-seater with my head slumped on someone else's shoulder. I made friendships that I still think about fondly to this day (seriously, if you were there I think about you from time to time with so much joy) and the memories I made are going to last a lifetime.
This past year I started volunteering with Habitat for Humanity - Los Angeles at their Culver City build just west of the 405 (#TheCalifornians). The site is soon to be home to 10 brand new houses and the families selected to move in are eagerly awaiting the day. I really think about this site fondly as well. When I was volunteering in Alaska one of my fellow volunteers was a young man named Travis from Long Beach. At the time he was in the Air Force ROTC program and was hoping to go on and become a captain in the Air Force. He was an absolutely hilarious person, and had such an honest, disarming personality. I remember one time, while eating dinner in a host's home, he came to sit next to me and said, "Enough with all this small talk, tell me something personal." What followed was one of the best conversations I've ever had. It was with a lot of sadness several years later that I learned Travis had lost his battle with depression, and a few of us from that Alaska trip traveled to Saddleback Church in Orange County for his funeral. Fast forward to the Culver City build, and while deep in remiscence about Travis and our time in Alaska, I found myself standing next to Wyatt: a tall, gangly blond guy who was the spitting image of Travis. He spoke like him, he acted like him. I'm not kidding. And it really felt like Travis was there, and God had given me a little gift.
Habitat is without a doubt my most favorite non-profit to volunteer with on my extra time, and if you don't know anything about it here's the 30 second rundown: Habitat doesn't give people houses for free. Families must apply, be able to pay back a zero-interest mortgage at 30% of their monthly income, spend 500 hours over the course of the build helping on the site, and be considered low-income, disabled, or a veteran. All mortgage money paid goes directly back to Habitat into the funds to build other families' homes. Each Habitat home is built with about 85% percent volunteer labor and you don't need any building experience to volunteer. Just to give you an idea of how vital HFH is to the community, the 10-home build site I was on had 350 applications for home ownership on the first week. It was a project a long time in the making; unfortunately many Culver City residents opposed the build because they didn't want to bring "poor people" and crime into their neighborhood. Facepalm. HFH doesn't bring "poor people" or crime into neighborhoods, HFH gives deserving families a chance to own their own home, a home that isn't freezing, falling apart, or not equipped for their needs.
After being in Cincinnati for four months, I'm reminded of the need for decent, safe, and sanitary housing for all families everywhere. A few of the places I regularly visit are Section 8 or public housing buildings, as were many in Los Angeles. There are a lot of housing quality standards for these homes, including regulations on mold, lead, bed bugs, ventilation, etc. but let me just tell you that despite this, these homes aren't very nice. I've seen bugs crawling out of the ceiling, people selling drugs in front, reports of elevators broken for days, landlords who refuse to help tenants (they'd rather kick them out), the list goes on. Still, this isn't a blog where I get political and start decrying government programs or asking for policy reform (though we seriously do need policy reform). Honestly the whole point of this blog is just this: consider volunteering with HFH in your city and give some thought to people who deserve a good home simply because they are PEOPLE. It doesn't matter if they don't have a college degree or went to prison ten years ago or they're immigrants or refugees or whatever. And after you've thought about it, consider if there's anything you can do to help. As always, I'd be happy to talk to anyone about anything I wrote in this blog.
Happy Holiday season!
