Music Builds Homes and Communities

, ,

On Friday December 9th at 3pm, Habitat’s New Heights neighborhood will be bustling with even more activity than usual. Following a short speaking program, Warren Haynes will join volunteers, supporters, and future homeowner Melissa Mitchell and her daughters to raise the first wall of their new home, the 2023 Christmas Jam House. This house is special for another reason too; it is 20-year Habitat staffer and Senior Construction Supervisor Kenny Busch’s 100th Asheville Habitat house!

To date, the annual Warren Haynes Presents: The Christmas Jam has raised more than $2.7 million for Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity, constructing 40+ Habitat homes and helping to pay infrastructure and development costs of entire Habitat neighborhoods.

Future homeowner and Asheville native Melissa Mitchell is thrilled to be able to purchase a new and affordable Green Built Habitat home. Despite steady full-time employment in the healthcare field, Melissa has struggled to find decent housing for her family in the Asheville area, one of the state’s highest cost housing markets. With few options for affordable housing, the Mitchell family has had to sacrifice quality to make ends meet. Melissa has described her current subsidized rental as “shelter,” and looks forward to finally having a place she can call “home.”

With the return of the annual benefit concert, comes the return of Asheville Habitat’s signature volunteer experience, Before the Jam, Lend a Hand. Volunteers from near and far will help build new homes, work on a home repair project, and serve in the Asheville ReStore. Local restaurants including Luella’s BBQ and Mellow Mushroom and will feed the helpers, and Merrell will again sponsor the signature volunteer event.

Asheville Habitat’s Executive Director Andy Barnett noted, “Habitat has been uniquely blessed this year. We are proud to share proceeds of the Christmas Jam with BeLoved Asheville. Working with those facing chronic housing instability, their work is a perfect fit with our vision of a world where everyone has a place to call home.”

Interested in helping the causes that Warren Haynes and The Christmas Jam support? Here are a few suggestions:

  • There are a few Before the Jam volunteer slots available. Click here to see options and register.
  • Donate to Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity online. Select Christmas Jam 23 as Purpose.
  • Attend and participate in a variety of Jam by Day events, including a Toy Drive for BeLoved.
  • Stop by the Habitat tables at The Christmas Jam to say hello, learn about programs, donate $1 to sign a stud wall which will be used in the construction of a Habitat house, and enter a raffle to win a VIP package for the 2023 Christmas Jam!

 

/by

Vote YES on bonds

,

By Andy Barnett, Executive Director

The beauty of our mountains and the strength of our neighbors are among Buncombe County’s greatest assets. It’s our job to take care of them. This election season, Buncombe County votes on two important ballot questions:

  • A $40 million bond for affordable housing. This bond invests in the County’s goal of adding 3,150 new units of housing. This helps ensure stable housing for children, homeownership for working families, and safe homes for seniors.
  • A $30 million bond for open space. This bond protects our land and water for future generations. It also supports recreational trails and greenways across the community.

A “yes” vote gives Buncombe County the tools to protect our land and ensure that the people who make our community work can afford to call it home.

Bonds work! As part of the 2016 City of Asheville housing bond, Asheville Habitat received no-interest construction financing for 6 homes. Coupled with private contributions, these cost savings helped make homeownership affordable to low wage health care and hospitality workers. Habitat repaid the city when the homes sold. Those funds are now available to reinvest in promising solutions and proven strategies.

Buncombe County affordable housing bonds will be a powerful tool for a proven partner. Over the past 5 years, Buncombe County has helped Habitat improve housing for more than 450 of our neighbors. The county’s focus on housing is real. The Board of Commissioners has approved ambitious, but achievable housing goals. They have increased local resources to build, preserve, and make housing more attainable and invested in the staff needed to face our housing challenges. Buncombe County is ready to put housing bonds to work for our community!

Asheville Habitat endorses bonds for housing and open space. I encourage you to vote “yes”  to help build a community where everyone has a place to call home. Learn more about the bond referendum at https://betterwithbonds.org/. Find voting information here.

 

/by

Local Chefs Prepare Plates Reflective of Home at 10/13 Blueprint Breakfast

, ,

Join AAHH and some of Asheville’s culinary best on Thursday 10/13/22 for a fun and delicious evening of creative cuisine and craft beverages in support of one of our region’s most pressing issues– housing.

Read more
/by

Meet office volunteers Aaron Finkel and Steven Casciato

,

Affectionately dubbed “The Boys,” Aaron Finkel and Steven Casciato are our exceedingly dedicated volunteers tasked with conquering piles of waivers and sign-in sheets ­– a task vital to the efficient operation of our large volunteer program.

Read more
/by

Home Repair through the eyes of volunteer Austin Brown

, ,

If you ask Austin Brown about his favorite moment as a volunteer with Asheville Habitat, his answer might sound like a platitude: “they all are.” But that is not a brush-off.

Read more
/by

Habitat receives transformational gift from MacKenzie Scott

,

Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity, Habitat for Humanity International and 83 Habitat affiliates receive transformational $436M gift from MacKenzie Scott

Asheville Habitat will use gift to address affordable housing shortage in Buncombe and Madison Counties

ASHEVILLE, NC (March 22, 2022) — Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity, along with Habitat for Humanity International and 83 U.S. Habitat affiliate organizations, recently received $436 million in unrestricted giving from American author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. [Of that, Asheville Habitat received $5M.] This transformational donation will substantially help further Habitat’s vision of a world where everyone has equitable access to a safe, decent and affordable place to call home.

“We are incredibly grateful and honored to receive this gift. It comes at an opportune time as we are finalizing our ambitious five-year strategic plan that will keep us on track to realize our current 10-year vision of serving another 1,000 families by 2028,” shared Andy Barnett, Executive Director of Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity.

Over the next 3-5 years, Asheville Habitat will use the $5 million donation to ramp up its home repair program, accelerate its new home construction program in Buncombe County, expand services to Madison County, and secure land to build future Habitat neighborhoods.

Affordable housing is needed more than ever before. Housing costs far outweigh local salaries and nearly half of all households in Buncombe County (48.5 percent) are “cost-burdened,” meaning that they pay more than 30 percent of income toward housing. Nearly two in five households in Buncombe are “severely” cost-burdened, paying half of more of all income to meet housing costs. “Receiving these generous and unrestricted funds allows us to scale up our work and meet more of the growing needs of our region,” added Barnett.

# # #

About Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity
Founded in 1983, Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity was the first Habitat affiliate in North Carolina. Through Habitat homeownership and home repair programs, 2,000 adults and children in Buncombe County have achieved the strength, stability and self-reliance they need to build a better future. A decent place to call home and an affordable mortgage enables Habitat homeowners to save more, invest in education, pursue opportunities and have greater financial stability. Learn more about Asheville Area Habitat, a Charity Navigator 4-star non-profit, and how you can get involved at ashevillehabitat.org.

About Habitat for Humanity International
Driven by the vision that everyone needs a decent place to live, Habitat for Humanity found its earliest inspirations as a grassroots movement on an interracial community farm in south Georgia. Since its founding in 1976, the Christian housing organization has grown to become a leading global nonprofit working in local communities across all 50 states in the U.S. and in more than 70 countries. Families and individuals in need of a hand up partner with Habitat for Humanity to build or improve a place they can call home. Habitat homeowners help build their own homes alongside volunteers and pay an affordable mortgage. Through financial support, volunteering or adding a voice to support affordable housing, everyone can help families achieve the strength, stability and self-reliance they need to build better lives for themselves. Through shelter, we empower. To learn more, visit habitat.org.

 

 

 

 

/by

First Two Aging in Place Homebuyers Move HOME

,

Thanks to a partnership with Deerfield, 8 single-level Aging in Place (AiP) townhomes specifically designed for low-income aging adults are being built in Asheville Habitat’s New Heights neighborhood– and the first two buyers recently moved in.  

Read more
/by

5 Reasons to Donate to Asheville Habitat

,

A donation to Asheville Habitat makes homeownership possible for all of our neighbors, helps provide a stable foundation so children can thrive, allows homeowners to age in their communities, helps break the cycle of poverty, and helps families build strength, stability and self-reliance.

Read more
/by

5 Reasons to Volunteer with Asheville Habitat

,

5 Reasons to volunteer with Asheville Habitat: the people, the process, the product, the byproduct, and the legacy.

Read more
/by

Volunteers needed to build largest-ever neighborhood

, , ,

We are currently building New Heights, our most ambitious neighborhood to-date, and community volunteers are invited to help build. Take an active role in ensuring everyone has an affordable place to call home by learning new skills or honing existing ones while working alongside community-minded people and future Habitat homeowners.

Asheville Habitat has been bringing people together to build homes, communities and hope for nearly four decades. The reasons people donate their time and talent to Asheville Habitat are as varied as the volunteer themselves. Those who so enjoyed volunteering once on the Women Build House that they keep coming back every week. Those that spent decades in a corporate boardroom and simply want to do something totally different in retirement. Those that work for a company that sponsors Asheville Habitat and therefore have the opportunity to participate in an employee build day. Those that are in high school and learning about our region’s affordable housing crisis. Those putting faith into action by working on a house their church sponsors. How people come to volunteer with Asheville Habitat is wide-ranging. Why they continue to volunteer is the same: Comradery. Meeting the families. Fulfillment. Fun. Making a difference. Feeling part of something bigger.

If you are ready to be the change you want to see in the world, learn more and sign up now or call 828.251.5702. “Volunteers are truly an extension of our staff,” shares Construction Services Volunteer Manager Stephanie Wallace. “We offer year-round opportunities for those age 16+. It’s hard work, but very rewarding. Stepping back at the end of the day, you can SEE the difference you’ve made and feel proud about it.”

If construction isn’t your cup of tea, contact Carrie at 828.210.9381 or cburgin@ashevillehabitat.org to learn about volunteer opportunities in the Asheville and Weaverville ReStores. Proceeds from ReStore sales support Habitat’s building programs, so your volunteer efforts there directly support affordable housing, too. Volunteer positions include customer service, such as running the cash register and providing sales support on the floor; intake and receiving; sorting and processing donations; testing and repairing appliances; and other fun opportunities. Learn more and sign up today!

/by