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Dear Friends,
June is National Homeownership Month, and I can think of no better way to mark the occasion than to report the completion of our newest housing project in San Mateo County. On May 5, 2007, Peninsula Habitat for Humanity celebrated the dedication of five townhouses at 20 Plumas Street in Brisbane (see related story). Two families received their keys and have since moved into their new homes - congratulations to the Singh and Khachatryan families - with the other three families in the process of completing their "sweat equity" and hoping to move in very soon. 
Seeing the joy on each family's face that day and in that moment of handing off the keys was a special reminder of why we do what we do - our mission to provide affordable housing for low-income families and our deep desire to give these Habitat families new hope for a better life. But for so many other families here in the San Francisco Bay Area, the future does not look as bright. Housing prices have continued to increase, raising the barrier to entry even higher and making home ownership virtually unattainable for the majority of people living in San Mateo County. The percentage of households who can afford to buy an entry-level home in the county dropped to 19 percent in the first quarter of 2007, compared with 20 percent last year, according to a recent report released by the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.). San Mateo County was one of the least affordable counties in California, which overall scored higher in first-time home affordability at 25 percent, but still well below the overall U.S. affordability score of 64 percent. The median price of a first time home in San Mateo County is $748,000, according to the report, making it the second highest in California after Marin County. Anyone can relate to the need for decent and affordable housing, how important it is to the health and well-being of families, and especially children. Often times, the high cost of housing puts a significant burden on low-income families, forcing them to forego health care, food, clothing or other necessities in order to pay their rent. Substandard housing can also erode the family unit, diminishing parents' self-worth and hope and limiting their children's ability to succeed in school. Five years ago, when President Bush designated June as National Homeownership Month, he set a goal of increasing minority homeownership in America by 5.5 million by the end of the decade in order to encourage neighborhood diversity and strengthen our communities. Last year, California voters passed the largest housing bond in California's history - Proposition 1C - which will provide $2.8 billion for more than 118,000 new homeownership and rental units, creating a new funding source for Peninsula Habitat and other affordable housing providers. 
Many local cities like Brisbane are committed to providing low income housing and have initiated redevelopment programs to help meet their goals. The city of Brisbane even donated the land at 20 Plumas Street and should be commended for its efforts to preserve the economic diversity of the community.
Many thanks to Brisbane Mayor Steve Waldo and his entire city planning team. And many thanks to you, our many supporters, for so generously volunteering your time and donating your money to help further the cause of eliminating poverty housing in San Mateo County.
With sincere gratitude,
 Executive Director |
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Peninsula Habitat for Humanity Completes New Homes In Brisbane Peninsula Habitat for Humanity has completed five new homes at 20 Plumas Avenue in Brisbane. 
Built in collaboration with the City of Brisbane, which donated the land, the project includes four 2-story, 2-bedroom town homes and one single story 2-bedroom handicap accessible town home. Peninsula Habitat celebrated the new homes at a dedication ceremony on May 5 and wishes to thank the City of Brisbane, as well as its many home sponsors and partners who helped make this project possible. 
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Volunteer Opportunities Habitat Housing Coordinator Homeowner Sweat Equity Volunteer Bilingual Homeowner Relations Volunteers (Spanish/Cantonese) Homeowner Training For more information, click here Employment Opportunities Accounting Assistant Return to Index |
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Peninsula Habitat Introduces
First Solar-Powered Homes 
As part of a growing emphasis on "green building" in low-income housing, Peninsula Habitat for Humanity has completed five solar-powered homes in Brisbane. The project is the result of significant support from the City of Brisbane, as well as a grant of $35,000 from PG&E and partnership with GRID Alternatives, which installed the solar electrical panels. Two additional solar-powered Habitat homes are still under construction.
Under the City of Brisbane's Redevelopment Program, it is required to provide funds for low and moderate income housing to help preserve the economic diversity of the community. Not only did the City of Brisbane donate the land for Peninsula Habitat's development on Plumas Street and San Bruno Avenue in Brisbane, but also has been a driving force behind the solar project, providing thousands of dollars in supplemental funds to help ensure its successful completion. The City of Brisbane is committed to promoting renewable energy and other green building elements in new development projects. Peninsula Habitat is among increasing numbers of Habitat for Humanity affiliates that are integrating renewable solar energy into their building plans as a way to lower utility costs for the homeowners, who are typically very low income families with a household income of $56,550 or less for a family of four in San Mateo County. It also enables Peninsula Habitat to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions, a major contributor to global warming, in support of the county's stated goal of lowering CO2 emissions 10 percent by 2010. Peninsula Habitat's Brisbane solar project is expected to provide a savings of $30 per month in electricity bills for each home, or a total of $14,000 over the life of the system. It also will offset approximately 104,000 pounds of carbon dioxide over the lifetime of each system. Supporting low-income families in underserved communities, PG&E offers a program that is specifically tailored to Habitat for Humanity affiliates in northern and central California. The Solar Habitat Program, to which PG&E donated a total of $300,000 in 2006, covers solar education, planning and installations across multiple Habitat affiliates in the territory. The per home grant of $5,000 to Peninsula Habitat is expected to increase over the coming years as PG&E expands its investment in the program and Peninsula Habitat begins new solar projects in Redwood City and other communities. "The Solar Habitat Program is another example of PG&E addressing the future of California's energy needs, and we are proud to be partnering with Peninsula Habitat for Humanity" said Ophelia Basgal, PG&E vice president of civic partnership and community initiatives. "In addition to lowering energy bills for these families, this program promotes energy literacy in underserved communities and continues the successful partnership between PG&E and Habitat for Humanity." GRID Alternatives, a nonprofit community agency and California licensed electrical contractor, provides free installation of solar electric systems to low-income homeowners as part of its Solar Affordable Housing Program. The installation labor is provided by teams of volunteers who are trained and led by GRID Alternatives staff. The agency also assists homeowners in obtaining state rebates, tax incentives, and low-cost loans from local agencies, helping to make solar energy more affordable for low-income families. |
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Take A Moment To Contact Congress 
Habitat for Humanity International, the parent organization of Peninsula Habitat for Humanity, has launched an online advocacy tool on its Web site to allow supporters to voice their opinions to U.S. policymakers on issues related to affordable housing.
The advocacy tool is available here. According to the United Nations, nearly 1.6 billion people worldwide live in substandard housing. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, in the United States alone 95 million people - nearly one-third of the nation - have housing problems including paying a large percentage of their income for housing, overcrowding, poor-quality shelter and homelessness. The online initiative is part of Habitat for Humanity's growing focus on raising awareness of poverty housing issues in the United States and worldwide. Habitat's advocacy efforts are currently focused on two key issues: Help Keep AmeriCorps Members Habitat for Humanity's longstanding partnership with the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) has served an important role in its efforts to expand access to affordable homeownership and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action. Habitat for Humanity has administered one of the nation's largest national service partnerships since the program's inception in 1994 and remains one of the greatest beneficiaries of CNCS programs. In the 2005-2006 program year alone, national service members engaged more than 200,000 volunteers contributing 2.3 million service hours to Habitat for Humanity in communities across the country. National service members contributed to the construction of 1,900 houses, providing simple decent shelter to 7,500 partner family members. In spite of the Herculean efforts of national service members around the country, national service appropriations have continued to decline, and the President's 2008 budget calls for even greater reductions. Such cuts not only would be devastating to CNCS, but would have significant ramifications for the organizations and the communities in which national service members work, such as San Mateo County where 11 AmeriCorps members serve at Peninsula Habitat. Help Reduce Global Poverty Ask your local members of Congress to cosponsor the Global Poverty Act (HR 1302). This important legislation would require the US government to implement a poverty reduction strategy and to report to Congress on its progress on an annual basis. By giving focus to the reduction of global poverty you will also be taking a crucial step to improving the lives of the 1 Billion people who live in slum conditions worldwide. According to the 2002 and 2006 National Security Strategies, "A world where some live in comfort and plenty, while half the human race lives on less than $2 a day, is neither just nor stable. Including all of the world's poor in an expanding circle of development-and opportunity-is a moral imperative and one of the top priorities of US international policy." As the most free and prosperous nation on earth, the United States has a moral responsibility to commit at least a small portion of its budget to global poverty reduction. Please encourage Congress to support the Global Poverty Act (HR 1302) and to make its passage a top priority this year. |
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 SIGN UP TODAY! Contact Jamin Sartor at 650-568-7342 or email volunteer@ peninsulahabitat.org Return to Index |
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Local Buildable Hours Program
Sets Lofty Goals 
As the morning Bay winds cross the hills above Brisbane, distant sounds of hammers and saws can be heard above the roar of Highway 101 traffic. A group of young professionals gather around in a circle far different from their normal day at the office.
"Did you hear the one about the lawyer who…" boasts one volunteer. "Or what happens when you mix a lawyer and a…" says another. Each person, while adding another joke to the mix, sips their water in anticipation of their next task at hand. Like any volunteer group for Peninsula Habitat for Humanity, many can be found throwing high fives or huddling up together for a group picture at the construction site of new homes for low-income families. However there is one thing that differentiates them from other volunteer groups. Each person represents the unified effort of local, socially-conscious law firms that are dedicated to better their surrounding community. These lawyers, summer associates and interns are part of "Buildable Hours," the program that has shattered expectations by more than doubling its fiscal contributions to Peninsula Habitat since 2004. Buildable Hours is a national non-profit program that was founded in 2001 in Washington, D.C. by Roger Goldman, a partner of Latham and Watkins, and Scott Michel, a partner of Caplin and Drysdale. However, the program's true impact is at the local level where local law firms partner up with Habitat for Humanity affiliates, such as Peninsula Habitat in San Mateo County, to build affordable housing for local families. When the program began at Peninsula Habitat for Humanity, Buildable Hours consisted of eight law firms and roughly $40,000 in contributions. Today, the program boasts the combined effort of 15 law firms and more than $80,000 in annual contributions. Not resting on their laurels, however, Peninsula Habitat and the local Buildable Hours program are pressing on for an even more impressive 2007. Sabrina Pourmand, Corporate Development Officer for Peninsula Habitat, would like to see contributions increase to at least $150,000 this year; a goal that is, with her plan in mind, easily attainable. Last year, Pourmand invited 39 local law firms to participate in the Buildable Hours program. Fifteen of the 39 invited firms signed on, many of which are repeat participants. Her strategy to get more firms on board is aggressive, consisting of potential partnerships with collegiate law groups, networking events and even a reward for those firms who may soon pass the five year commitment to Buildable Hours. Pourmand believes that it's the motivation of the program that contributes to its success. The firms participating in this year's program include major law firms such as: Bingham McCutchen; Dewey Ballantine; DLA Piper; Gibson Dunn & Crutcher; Jones Day; Latham & Watkins, Silicon Valley; O'Melveny & Meyers; Paul Hastings; Perkins Coie; Sullivan & Cromwell; Winston & Strawn; and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. According to Pourmand, this list will only grow in size over time. Even with this impressive list of dedicated law firms, Peninsula Habitat's list of projects continues to expand. The 2007 summer associates will be working on homes located in Brisbane, South San Francisco and possibly the new Redwood City development that will start late this summer. |
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Faith-Based Organizations Provide
Support for Peninsula Habitat 
From the beginning of Habitat for Humanity International and its local affiliate, Peninsula Habitat for Humanity, faith-based organizations have played a major role in helping to fulfill the mission of eliminating poverty housing - putting faith into action to build hope and transform lives. Peninsula Habitat benefits from all the contributions that faith-based organizations make through financial and volunteer support, including specific sponsored builds such as the 2007 Compassion Weekend, a unique outreach program of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, and the All Faiths Build Day, which joins different faith groups in collaborating, sharing diversity, and investing their community support to help deserving low-income families.
Held June 23, 2007, the All Faiths Build Day involved more than 40 volunteers from both Christian and Muslim faith organizations working together at the Brisbane and South San Francisco sites. Additional All Faiths Build Days were held one day each month in March, April and May, representing more than 150 volunteers helping to build homes over the four-day event. Compassion Weekend, which raised more than $60,000 to cover construction financing and operating expenses at the San Bruno Ave. project in Brisbane, Peninsula Habitat's 100th home, was held on April 21-22, 2007, and included more than 200 members of the church congregation volunteering at the construction site. "Compassion Weekend was one of the most meaningful investments of time that I have ever made," said Tom Bowman, church volunteer. "It is not often that at the end of the day you can look back and see that you had made a difference, albeit just a small one."
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Have you included Peninsula Habitat in your Will? Contact the Office of Planned Giving, 650-568-7331 or plannedgiving@ peninsulahabitat.org. Return to Index |
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Peninsula Habitat Team Helps Mississippi Rebuild Twenty months after one of the worst natural disasters 
in the history of the United States, 11 members of Peninsula Habitat's AmeriCorps and VISTA team packed their bags and headed to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where nearly 70,000 homes were left "uninhabitable" after Hurricane Katrina and 25,000 temporary housing units are still in use today.
Part of a massive "Build-A-Thon" event, the team joined more than 500 people from across the country who descended on Gulfport, Mississippi, in a week-long 20-home "blitz" build, May 19-26. In all, Habitat for Humanity has built more than 110 homes in the Harrison and Jackson counties of Mississippi and more than 1000 homes total throughout the Gulf Coast region, including Louisiana and Alabama, since the storm hit in 2005. 
With varying levels of experience in home construction, ranging from full-time construction crew members to office staff, participants were distributed among a number of "camps" around Biloxi, where they were housed and spent most of their time during the off-hours of the week. One such camp, known as the D'Iberville Volunteer Village, or Camp D'Iberville, was located on the grounds of three contiguous baseball fields and originally used to house displaced and evacuated storm victims. The village looks like a cross between a military installation and a summer camp, including tents, refrigerated food trucks, storage sheds, striped carnival-like tents, FEMA trailers, and military tents - providing volunteers with access to a kitchen, showers, portable toilets, laundry facilities, a dining area and other "comforts" of home.
Arriving on the first day of the build to a concrete slab on the ground for each home's foundation was an intense experience, said Sabrina Pourmand, staff member at Peninsula Habitat. "Knowing you have to get it done in a week was very powerful. " Participants, even those like Pourmand and Andrew Slaton, who is also a staff member at Peninsula Habitat and has limited construction experience, were involved in all stages of the home construction process. From building the frame and raising the walls, to trussing the roof and installing windows, the AmeriCorps teams provided a critical mass of labor needed to meet the enormous challenge of building 20 homes in five days. Crew leaders and experienced construction site workers were also available at all times to provide training and supervision along the way.
So how does Mississippi look today? It is no longer a 'war zone' of destruction, but signs of what the people have endured there are everywhere still. Riding on a bus to and from the construction site everyday, Pourmand and Slaton were struck by so many visual extremes: Beautiful rebuilt resorts and casinos, followed by schools that were heavily damaged by the floodwaters; Writings on the side of an abandoned house bringing flashbacks to the chaos that ensued immediately following the disaster: "We are home. We will shoot;" Boarded up businesses; villages of FEMA trailers (known as "crampers" by the locals); and the polluted waters of the Gulf Coast where swimming is strictly forbidden. Shells can even be found on the ground miles away from the beach, a chilling reminder of the storm surge that killed 230 people in Mississippi alone.
Emotions are also running high. The frustration levels of people who are still struggling to get by is palpable. "Bitterness is in the air there," said Pourmand, as the area experiences a second wave of people leaving due to the slow rebuilding effort. Some people are packing up; others are moving forward. But for 20 families on the 44th and 45th Avenues in Gulfport, where the Build-A-Thon was held, and many other families like them, these new Habitat homes are symbols of the reemergence of the area out of total destruction and the promise of a better life to come. 
"So many people are holding on to hope," Pourmand said. This Build-A-Thon marks 13 years of AmeriCorps and Habitat for Humanity working together to build affordable houses and eliminate substandard housing. Since 1994, Habitat for Humanity AmeriCorps members have performed more than 5 million hours of service and engaged hundreds of thousands of community volunteers to build more than 6,500 houses. Many of the Gulf Coast homes were built with significant financial support from the Charles Schwab Foundation, the government of Qatar, the Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation and many other sponsors. Peninsula Habitat's AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America) members include: Jose Alvarez, Eric Anderson, Joseph Byrum, Dana Logsden, Julie Newton, Marshall Poland, Jessica Smith, Abby Tiedemann, Joy Young, Andrew Slaton and Sabrina Pourmand. |
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What We Do
About Peninsula Habitat for Humanity Founded in 1989, Peninsula Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International that helps create stronger communities on the San Francisco Peninsula by building quality, affordable ownership homes for low-income families. In 18 years, the agency has worked with more than 40,000 volunteers and community donors to empower 98 families to become homeowners. Families who are selected for a Habitat home invest a lot of effort into their dreams, including 500 hours of "sweat equity" to help build their own homes. They purchase their homes with no down payment and a zero-interest mortgage structured never to exceed one-third of their monthly income. Some families even go on to purchase new market rate homes, creating a new cycle of opportunity as their Habitat homes become available again in the community housing pool. Currently, six homes are under construction in Brisbane and South San Francisco, and another eight homes will get under way this summer as part of a new project in Redwood City. For more information about Peninsula Habitat, or to volunteer, donate or apply for homeownership, go to www.PeninsulaHabitat.org. | |
© 2007 PENINSULA HABITAT FOR HUMANITY · WWW.PENINSULAHABITAT.ORG 690 BROADWAY STREET, REDWOOD CITY, CA 94063 · 650-368-PHFH (7434) E-NEWS@PENINSULAHABITAT.ORG You're receiving this e-newsletter because you kindly gave us your e-mail address through our website or with your contribution. Please know that we value your privacy and will not share your contact information with anyone. If you would like to unsubscribe, please follow the instructions below. |
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