A future taking shape at Gooseberry Trails

“You may see lumber, nails, and walls. Families like mine see a future.”

With those words, Habitat homeowner Duffy captured the spirit of this year’s Frame a Future celebration. On a sunny afternoon in Southwest Portland, friends, neighbors, volunteers, and supporters gathered at Gooseberry Trails to celebrate the opportunities that affordable homeownership creates.

The day also offered an exciting opportunity to learn more about our largest community to date. When complete, Gooseberry Trails will bring 52 permanently affordable homes to the Hillsdale neighborhood, creating a place to call home for nearly 230 people.

“We’re home.”

For Duffy, homeownership meant far more than having a place to live. After a major life change left her rebuilding life with her three children, she put all her energy into finding stability for her family. But even after finding a steady job in education after more than a decade of full-time parenting, homeownership remained out of reach.

Duffy says she felt depleted until she found out she qualified for a Habitat home. As she volunteered on the build site and helped shape her family’s future home, she felt a renewed sense of possibility.

“I can truly say that our confidence and hope rose right alongside the walls,” she said.

Today, each of Duffy’s children has a room of their own in a community already full of warmth. Because they built relationships with their future neighbors before moving in, they arrived in a neighborhood where friendships were already growing.

“When someone needs help, neighbors show up. That’s something you can’t buy,” Duffy shared.

Her story brought to life what the Frame a Future campaign is all about: creating opportunities for families to build a future in a home and community of their own.

A partnership built on a shared vision

Gooseberry Trails is taking shape thanks in part to a partnership with Greater Portland Bible Church, which sold five acres of its property to Habitat to make the community possible. Pastor Tyler Michel spoke about the importance of creating affordable, accessible housing, and the role that community partnerships play in making it happen.

“To have a place to call home, a place to grow and connect, a place to store not only our belongings but our memories, helps shape the fabric of our lives,” he shared.

For Tyler, the partnership is about more than transforming a former church parking lot into homes. It’s an opportunity to help families find the peace and security that comes with having a place of their own.

Building homes, shaping futures

The partnership between Greater Portland Bible Church and Habitat has already made a lasting impact. About a decade ago, the two organizations worked together to build seven Habitat homes at nearby Trillium Court. Today, those families are still there, and the sixteen children who grew up in the community were able to stay in the same schools, build friendships, and experience the stability of a place to call home.

Habitat President and CEO Steve Messinetti reflected on how that partnership grew into something even bigger. Gooseberry Trails, he said, is the largest Habitat community ever built in Oregon — a testament to what can happen when a community comes together around a shared vision.

“Building a community this ambitious takes more than funding or construction expertise,” Steve said. “It takes folks from across our community and across sectors stepping up and saying yes.”

Among those who stepped up are the Meyer Memorial Trust Foundation, Senator Rob Wagner and Congresswoman Andrea Salinas, who secured American Rescue Plan Act funding, the State of Oregon with its LIFT for Homeownership funding, the City of Portland with its Metro Housing Bond Funds and Portland Clean Energy and Community Benefits Funds, as well as OnPoint Community Credit Union. And, of course, Greater Portland Bible Church for opening this door.

That collective commitment is making 52 high-quality, permanently affordable homes possible, with green space where neighbors can gather and children can play.

“This is the part of Habitat that I never get tired of: we build a house once, but its impact keeps multiplying,” Steve said.

That impact shows up when children stay in the same classroom, parents can plan beyond next month’s rent, families build equity, and neighbors look out for one another. And because Habitat homes remain affordable for future buyers, those benefits can continue for generations.

Gooseberry Trails is part of a much greater effort across the region. Habitat Portland Region has nearly 150 homes under construction and another 140 in the pipeline, continuing its work to create more opportunities for affordable homeownership.

“That is the future you are framing here: not just walls and roofs, but choices, stability, belonging, and brighter futures built on the solid foundation of home,” Steve said.

Frame a future, together

When complete, Gooseberry Trails will be home to more than 200 people, including about 100 children. The Frame a Future campaign is raising $500,000 to help ensure more of these homes remain within reach of families with few other paths to homeownership.

A very special thank-you to our matching gift donors for setting incredible momentum and taking Frame a Future’s impact farther. Thank you to Tom and Noelle Mehlhorn, Shirley, and NECA-IBEW Electrical Training Center for your generous support.

We’re deeply grateful to everyone who joined us to celebrate, and to the donors, sponsors, volunteers, partners, and neighbors whose generosity and commitment are helping bring Gooseberry Trails to life.