Habitat for Humanity San Fernando/Santa Clarita Valleys

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“To provide home ownership for very low and low-income families living in sub-standard housing. It is our belief that in order for our families to truly be successful, affordable housing must include a supportive environment that provides training and encourages self-sufficiency in a neighborhood culture. Habitat for humanity sf/scv has accomplished this in our implementation of the enriched neighborhood(r) model, developed by another agency, homes for families. In this model, we provide low-income working families and low-income veteran families an opportunity to purchase a home with 500 hours sweat equity, a 0% interest mortgage and resale restrictions; keeping the home in the affordable housing market for a fixed number of years while allowing for modest equity growth for the family. Houses are built in communities of 12 homes or more and are all at minimum energy star certified and ada visitable, with some being fully ada accessible. Each neighborhood also has an urban community garden and, tot lot or playground for the children. What makes this model most unique is the no-cost self-sufficiency training and social services that are easily accessible to the neighborhoods where the families live. Provision of these services, such as financial training and health and wellness programs, allows our families to become self-sufficient and learn skills and necessary tools to move out of the endless cycle of poverty housing and into the middle class. Services are provided by community partners and begin 12 months before and continue 12 to 24 months after the families move into their new homes. The results build the families and help support community resource integration, care continuums, and interagency capacity building. Although the numerous programs offered to the participants are exciting, what really counts are the results they produce. That is why we are thrilled to report the results, gathered from a study of over 350 people living in our enriched neighborhoods(r), who are currently being tracked in this program. What we measure children: - dropout rates - graduation rates - college/4-year university attendance - trade school attendance - post-secondary graduation - marital status - teen pregnancies - housing - employment - healthcare coverage - english first language/english speaking parents: - type of employment - job title - job retention - number of jobs since move-in - high school graduation - college or trade school since selection - return to school since move in - number of english speakers - healthcare coverage - number of adults employed - unemployed - move-in combined income compared to current how we measure families are interviewed in accordance with a prescribed methodology and format in person bi-annually. Each family in each controlled cohort is offered the same enrichment classes and has the same type of built environment. The only differing factor is the size of the community. No community is less than 12 families. Cohorts can be phases as well as entire communities. They are based on concurrent participation in the enriched neighborhood(r) program and move-in. The first survey is done on move-in date. This data is then compared to the second survey done 2 years after move-in date and so on until 5 surveys have been completed (approximately 10 years). This provides us with data over a longitudinal period, allowing time for children to grow, parents to become more educated and be part of a community. Data is verified through interviews with local high school principals, diplomas, report cards, pay stubs, the census, college campuses, and libraries. The results are then compared to aggregate data sets for the surrounding community to determine the impact. The veteran communities have begun a new set of control groups/cohorts because there are new enrichment services being introduced. However, the measurement instruments will be the same to allow comparisons between the civilian and veteran communities. For ou”