Dear Friends,

Together, we are resilient. In the face of major challenges this year, your support never faltered. With you by our side, we faced the pandemic head on. We moved swiftly to keep our most vulnerable residents safe in their homes by advocating for state-wide moratoriums on foreclosures and evictions. Because of your unwavering commitment, we were able to build and repair 21 homes and begin building 54 more throughout Portland. Thank you.

This year, we have seen our community come together like never before. Despite not being able to safely build alongside our volunteers and having to cancel our annual events, Habitat homeowners joined staff, volunteers, donors, and supporters across the Portland region to raise essential funds to move our work forward. This year, we also became more innovative. When we were forced to close our ReStores, our team developed and launched an online store—a first for us. With the loss of our annual HopeBuilder Breakfast and Hard Hat and Black Tie Dinner & Auction, you rallied around us to pilot new ways of supporting our work virtually.

Together, our impact continues to grow. Because of your generosity, more than 200 Portlanders—many of whom have generational ties to historically Black neighborhoods in North and Northeast Portland—will return to the communities they once called home. This anti-displacement effort is one of many we need to build a more inclusive city. Among many things, the Black Lives Matter movement highlighted how households of color in our community own homes at about half the rate as White families. We know racist policies caused this homeownership gap. We know affordable homeownership is the key to creating a path toward equity for people living on low-incomes and especially communities of color. We recognize our role in addressing the racial disparities in housing and we know that we cannot do it alone.

If there’s one thing this year has revealed, it is that the health of our community begins at home. With you by our side, we will continue building resilient communities for generations to come.

In Partnership,

Steve Messinetti, President and CEO

Julie Frantz, Board Chair

Preference Policy & Right to Return

Over the last 5 years, Habitat for Humanity partnered with the City of Portland and other local nonprofits to enact the North/Northeast Preference Policy. A first of its kind in the nation, this initiative prioritizes residents who were displaced or who have generational ties to the area for affordable homeownership and rental opportunities in the neighborhoods they once called home. The initiative helps address the City’s legacy of displacement and marginalization of largely Black neighborhoods due to urban renewal, redlining, and racist lending policies. This past year, we built 42 homes that will be purchased by buyers from the Preference Policy. 

Read more

Deloris

“Buying a home feels like lying under a warm blanket on a cold day, it heats up my inner self.”  

Deloris grew up in Northeast Portland. The City of Portland’s practice of urban renewal decimated entire neighborhoods and demolished homes owned by Black residents, including Deloris’ family’s home. Thanks to the City of Portland’s Preference Policy, Deloris will now have the opportunity to purchase an affordable home in North Portland.  

“Being able to purchase and leave a legacy for my granddaughter whom I raised and now my young, great-nephew, means they will have a better start to life; knowing they have a permanent place where memories were built and nourished and hopefully, they will continue the tradition for generations to come.” 

Learn more about Deloris’ homeownership journey.

Race & Housing

Throughout history, racist housing policies kept people of color from owning homes and building equity in the Portland Metro region and around the country. White residents own homes at more than twice the rate as Black Portlanders. It is critical to understand the historical context of why these racial disparities continue to exist because of these injustices. 

We need to be as intentional in closing these disparities as we were in creating them. 

This year, we’ve been reckoning with the legacy of systemic racism in housing. Join us in learning from the past to build a better future.

Race & Housing Blog Series

1. The Early History of Portland’s Racist Housing Strategies
2. Exodus, Disaster, and Exploitation
3. Under the Guise of Renewal
4. The Great Recession and the Racial Homeownership Gap

Housing Justice in Portland: Featuring Rukaiyah Adams

In 2020, we hosted a conversation on housing justice in Portland, featuring keynote speaker Rukaiyah Adams, Chief Investment Officer at Meyer Memorial Trust. Rukaiyah, a fourth-generation Portlander, shared her journey of experiencing housing as a shelter, a dwelling, and finally a home, one that deeply rooted her in our community. Finding that sense of home was all under a shadow of prolific housing discrimination that impacted communities of color, including Rukaiyah’s family.  

Financials

Audited Statement of Financial Position As of June 30, 2020

Assets

Liabilities and Net Assets

*$7,754,147 in notes payable contain provisions whereby the notes will be forgiven by the lender provided certain conditions are met by the organization.

Expenses

78% for Program Services

12% fundraising

10% management and general

Statement of Activities

July 1, 2019-June 30, 2020

Supporters

Thank you to our generous donors and volunteers who made Habitat for Humanity’s work possible this year. With your support, we made tremendous progress this year in helping more families find stability through homeownership. Download a list of our generous supporters, including volunteers and donors.

Download Supporter List