When you donate your time, money or materials to Habitat for Humanity, your community reaps huge benefits.
It’s no secret that homeownership has a positive impact on families and their neighborhoods. That impact is even more resounding when a low-income family has the opportunity to move out of substandard housing and into a Habitat home that those family members helped to build.
In fact, a study of Habitat for Humanity Tucson proves that for every dollar Habitat invests in a new home for a deserving family, the community reaps a 168 percent return. The 2008 study shows that the benefits of moving a struggling family into a nice home reach far beyond the walls of the house.
Like all homeowners, for example:
- Their children get better grades on reading and math tests and are less likely to drop out of school.
- The adults in the home are more likely to vote and volunteer in the community.
- The family often earns substantially more money than renters and is more satisfied with life.
And children of homeowners are more likely to become homeowners themselves when they grow up, so the better quality of life and achievement continues through the generations.
The family isn’t the only beneficiary, though. The positive changes ripple through a community when a family owns a home. Property taxes and higher payroll taxes help the government provide better services, and the pride of ownership usually leads people to take better care of their homes and their neighborhoods than they would if they were renting.
So every dollar helps a deserving family, one that will help build the home, pay the mortgage and live there for years to come, live a better life and pass a better life down to their children.
The folks at Habitat like to call this “a hand up, not a handout.” That’s what Rosie calls “worthwhile.”
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