Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles

Habitat LA hopes to accomplish its mission through several core areas of focus. First, we build and rehabilitate homes, and we are the largest and most successful nonprofit builder of affordable homes in Los Angeles County. In our last fiscal year alone, we completed 37 new and rehabilitated homes with the help of our partner homeowners and 2,500 volunteers—our homes are built with 85% volunteer labor. Notably, we include many green building practices such as Energy Star® appliances, low flow plumbing fixtures, high efficiency heating and cooling systems, solar energy systems, and drought tolerant landscaping, to name a few.

We also partner with nearly 100 homeowners with low incomes each year, including many Veterans, to complete critical health and safety related repairs. Our home preservation program offers a broad range of services—often including a new roof or windows, a modified bathroom for greater accessibility, or an updated heating and cooling system—that these families might not otherwise be able to afford, while at the same time reducing blight in their neighborhoods. This ensures that families can continue living in safe, decent homes for years to come and is of particular importance given the aging housing stock in the Los Angeles region, with some estimates stating that the average Los Angeles home is 56 years old.

Finally, and the foundation of our work, we put families and individuals on the road to homeownership. In addition to being a general contractor to ensure the best quality construction, rehabilitation, and repairs for homeowners with low incomes, we are a US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-certified housing counseling agency, a lender, and a real estate broker. These tools allow us to empower more than 400 potential homebuyers and homeowners each year. Not only are Habitat LA homes sold to partner homebuyers at no profit and financed with affordable loans, but we also offer pre-purchase and post-purchase (non-delinquency) education and counseling. In addition to providing a down payment of just 1% of the home’s purchase price purchase price and paying an affordable monthly mortgage payment, Habitat partner homeowners invest sweat equity hours building their future Habitat home and the homes of other homebuyers.

For our new construction developments, Habitat LA uses a typical approach to project management to remain on schedule and on budget. We currently have 10 active projects in our development pipeline ranging in size from 1 to 36 units. We break our projects down into major milestones such as construction start date, completion date, utilities installed, and certificate of occupancy received, and track as percent completed. Our director of construction utilizes Project Plan365 software to maintain project schedules and track progress, our finance team uses Timberline to track all costs, and we review all project budgets on a monthly basis.

For our Home Preservation program, Habitat LA measures its success by the number of minor and major home repair projects completed, including disaster recovery projects and those provided to Veteran homeowners throughout the fiscal year. We develop a scope of work for each project, document progress with before and after photos, and Habitat LA’s Home Preservation team completes surveys with each household that receives services about their experience. As one example of our work with Veterans, the Habitat LA construction team visited the home of Barbara in Pico Rivera in 2022. Our team assessed her home and Barbara, the widow of a United States Marine who was killed during combat in the Vietnam War, required much needed repairs to her roof. “When it would rain, we would have to put pans on the stove because the water was coming down. There were leaks in the restroom too,” said Barbara. Unable to afford these critical repairs herself, Habitat LA’s team stepped in to complete the improvements to her satisfaction, allowing her to remain there safely for years to come.

We measure the impact of our Homeownership Program for those families who become Habitat partner homeowners and others looking to purchase a home elsewhere or at some time in the future. Parallel to our construction timelines is our homebuyer timelines for families who will live in our new homes, including pre-outreach, outreach and pre-eligibility, the application process, homebuyer selection, pre-escrow, and escrow closing. This ensures that families are not only ready to move in once a Habitat LA home is completed, but that they are also not waiting for their homes to be completed once they are qualified. Provided to our partner families and others, the success of our financial education program is measured by the number of households that complete homebuyer or financial literacy education workshop series, the number of workshops provided, and the number of housing counseling sessions conducted. Individual success is measured through pre- and post-course surveys that measure changes in each household’s understanding of financial terms and concepts and any increases in the household’s self-reported ability to save.

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles (Habitat LA) was founded in 1990 and is one of more than 1,100 Habitat for Humanity International affiliates working in local communities in all 50 states and more than 70 countries. Our history began as Habitat for Humanity South Bay-Long Beach, which merged with two other affiliates to become Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles in 2005. As a testament to our strength as partners and homebuilders, in 2017, Habitat for Humanity International approved an expansion of our service area into the Santa Clarita, San Fernando, and Antelope Valleys, which had been vacated by a former affiliate.

Now serving 85% of Los Angeles County, Habitat LA is in a remarkable time of expansion, completing 10 homes in late 2022 and breaking ground on another 36 (our largest development yet) in Long Beach, completing the first phase of an 8-home development in South Los Angeles, and preparing for significant building opportunities in the Antelope Valley. We also continue to deepen our traditional partnership with homeowners and volunteers to include neighbors and local organizations for a far greater impact in the communities we serve through neighborhood revitalization.

Erin Rank is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Habitat LA. Under her more than two decades of leadership, we have helped build new affordable homes in partnership with thousands of volunteers each year, and she has led the organization to be the top nonprofit Residential Home Builder in Los Angeles several years in a row.
She has held several leadership positions for Habitat for Humanity International, served as the Board Chair of Housing California, and was recently named to the Federal Home Loan Bank Affordable Housing Advisory Council. Erin has built homes in countries all around the world, and last year she celebrates her

Since our founding, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles (Habitat LA) has built, rehabilitated, or repaired more than 1,400 homes in neighborhoods across greater Los Angeles, and we currently serve more than 5,000 individuals each year through all of our activities.

In fiscal year 2023 alone, Habitat LA was able to reach several important milestones, including the following:

•Completed 25 new or rehabilitated homes for first-time homebuyers with low incomes.

•Acquired sites to build an additional 85 homes.

•Provided critical home repairs to 93 families, including Veterans.

•Offered homeownership education, counseling, and referrals to nearly 250 individuals

•Hosted or participated in 48 community events and projects in diverse communities to engage community members and share information about our programs.