News Room

---

Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity is one of 163 U.S. Habitat affiliates that will be participating in the initial phase Habitat's Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative. Through the initiative, Habitat affiliates, in collaboration with other community organizations, will collectively determine the projects that will be carried out locally. Habitat services may include new house construction, rehabilitation of vacant and foreclosed properties, house repairs for low-income homeowners, and weatherization to make houses more energy-efficient and affordable. Click on the headline to learn more.

The focus in Haiti is still disaster relief, and the same is true in Chile. Therefore Habitat for Humanity and Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity will not be organizing volunteer trips until 2011. Currently, Habitat for Humanity is providing shelter kits. Visit www.habitat.org to learn more. As infrastructure develops and the focus shifts to reconstruction, Habitat will begin building permanent housing in these countries.

Asheville Area Habitat has joined the Asheville-Buncombe Living Wage Employer Certification Program. We believe it is important to pay our employees a fair wage that allows them to support themselves and their families. Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity is part of a growing network of employers working to build a more just and sustainable local economy. The Living Wage Employer Certification Program is administered locally through Just Economics of WNC. If you are interested in learning more, visit http://justeconomicswnc.org/

With help from the Biltmore Company, Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity (AAHH) has been able to take it's green building initiatives to a new level. Started with its first house of 2008, all AAHH houses are now being bronze-level HealthyBuilt certified. This statewide certification program is administered through the Green Building Council of Western North Carolina. Asheville Area Habitat has a long commitment to energy efficiency and green building. We are proud to say that all new AAHH homes are HealthyBuilt and that the homes participate in the SystemVision energy bill guarantee program and are Energy Star certified.