Building Communities,
Building Hope

Capital Campaign for Central Valley Habitat for Humanity 2023-24

Jessy’s Story

Jessy was once a single mother of two living in her car. Jessy’s family now lives comfortably and securely in a Habitat-built home that she owns.

A happy family and two children standing together outdoors on a sunny day, all wearing red shirts, with houses and parked cars in the background.

Challenges to Home Ownership

  • Rising interest rates & construction costs

  • Housing is the biggest single expense for most low-income families.

  • The Harrisonburg sales market is a very strong one with limited inventory on the market and a median days on market of two weeks.

  • Demand for off-campus rental units to accommodate college students exerts upward pressure on rental rates, pricing out non-student households.

Three people standing outside in front of a brick house, all wearing black face masks. The person on the left is a young man with dark, curly hair wearing a black and white plaid shirt. The middle person is a young woman with long dark hair wearing a magenta blouse and light blue jeans. The person on the right is an older woman with shoulder-length brown hair wearing a black sweater with patterned sleeves and a colorful embroidered mask.

Housing – An Urgent Community Priority

7,800+

The number of families below 80% of the Area Median Income in Harrisonburg & Rockingham County.

3,600+

The number of families who pay more than 30% of their income on housing costs.

As a result thousands of families experience economic stress as they attempt to pay rental prices.

*City of Harrisonburg Comprehensive Housing Assessment & Market Study 2020

Group of six people, including women and children, standing outside a house in front of the door, all wearing face masks. There is a small bookshelf with children's books on the left, and the house has brick walls and a green door.

Harrisonburg’s unique rental market keeps low-income families chronically unstable

  • Harrisonburg rental market dominated by universities

  • Friendly city with many ethnic groups (Russian, Asian, Hispanic)

  • Shortage of affordable rental units keeps families in poverty

  • The lowest income group has the smallest housing inventory available and affordable to them.

Renting a typical 3 bedroom in Harrisonburg -
$1,400

Average Monthly Habitat Mortgage -
$350

Two young girls sitting on a front porch next to a bookshelf filled with children's books and toys, wearing face masks, with a brick house and a window behind them.

The Habitat Solution

Home ownership improves quality of life

  • Moves family out of poverty

  • Builds equity + wealth

  • Provides healthy living environment

  • Provides stability for children

Partnership model overcomes threshold barriers

  • Families make an affordable down payment or receive down payment assistance

  • Families help build their house by contributing ‘sweat equity’

  • Habitat offers 0% interest mortgages

Two men shaking hands outside a residential house, wearing matching Habitat for Humanity shirts, with one holding a construction helmet and both smiling.

The Importance of Volunteering

Two people, a young girl and a woman, working on a construction project outdoors. The girl is wearing a red hoodie and holding a hammer, while the woman, in a blue hoodie and striped pants, is using a hammer and wearing gloves.

“…when people ask me about the best way to get involved, I tell them just come on out and help on the project. Habitat is a way to give a ‘hand-up’ - my parents got involved 30-some years ago, so as I grew up I was involved as a volunteer, and as I became an adult I continued to volunteer with my time and my pocketbook.”

-Ken Reeves

Impacts & Outcomes

On Families

  • Zero-interest loans for hard-working low-wealth families result in more home equity, lifting neighbors out of poverty

  • Habitat’s reinvestment of mortgage payments from these families helps fund new affordable homes going forward

  • Families learn to work on their home and become more self-reliant by taking classes offered by Central Valley Habitat for Humanity.

On The Community

  • Reduced number of families reliant on public assistance

  • Greater likelihood of children becoming educated to “break the cycle” of poverty

  • Growth of the Harrisonburg middle class

  • Habitat families contribute at least $134,000 in real estate taxes to the city and county every year

A group of diverse people participating in a groundbreaking ceremony on a sunny day, holding shovels and standing on dirt with houses and trees in the background.

The Habitat Solution;
Suter Street

A New Model

A row of modern houses with cars parked in front, trees with fall foliage, and a person riding a bicycle in a suburban neighborhood under a partly cloudy sky.

Vision for Suter Street -
The Habitat Neighborhood

  • Traditional model is one home at a time on an affordable vacant lot

  • Suter Street is a new vision to develop neighborhoods

    • Transform pockets of poverty into mixed-income communities

    • Partnered with PDY LLC

    • Habitat and the developer each build 11 homes (22 total)

    • Share costs of site work and utilities for the new neighborhood

  • Rapid housing expansion “exponentially” solves Harrisonburg’s low-income housing problem and alleviates rental market

An aerial view of a housing development with single-family homes, parking lots, trees with colorful fall foliage, and green lawns. A curved street runs through the neighborhood, with some cars parked and shadows cast by the trees.

Suter Street Details

  • North Harrisonburg, off  Jefferson Street

  • Habitat has 11 lots, PDY LLC has 11 lots

  • Sharing infrastructure costs with PDY LLC.

  • Once infrastructure is finished, Habitat is funding the building of their units

  • Will provide 11 homes for families in need.

Project Timeline

  • Summer 2023: Site work & infrastructure

  • Winter 2023 – Spring 2024:  Build 6 homes

  • Summer - Fall 2024: Build 5 homes

A neighborhood street with houses, trees with colorful fall leaves, parked cars, and people walking or sitting on the grass.

Hear It From A Donor

Three children playing soccer on a grassy backyard, with two women watching, in front of a blue house with stairs and a white door, on a sunny day.

Campaign Budget

  • Infrastructure Costs $540,000

  • Materials: $550,000

  • Labor: $495,000

  • Construction Management: $110,000

    Total Needed: $1.5 Million

We need your help

A row of shovels stuck in the dirt, with grass and a wall in the background.