Briefing notes

VISION

Habitat for Humanity's vision is a world where everyone has a safe and decent place to live.

BACKGROUND

Habitat for Humanity (HFH) is a global not for profit housing organisation which strives for an end to poverty housing and homelessness worldwide, taking practical action to do so. By bringing people in severe housing need together with the resources they require, we help people build, repair or renovate safe, decent place to live.

All over the world, from Rwanda to Romania, Cambodia to Chile, local HFH 'affiliates' are working in partnership with local experts, the new homeowner, local volunteers and volunteers from other countries to help the homeowner build or renovate their home. In fact a new Habitat house is built every 21 minutes somewhere in the world. HFH is not a giveaway programme. It is a hand up, not a hand out.

HFH helps bring hope, opportunity and a real sense of dignity to those people who most need it by helping them turn their hopes and dreams of a new home and a better life into reality.

In Great Britain, our Global Village international volunteering programme send out volunteers all over the world to help people build their new home. This includes our own domestic programme where volunteers can help on house building projects in Great Britain.

THE CAMPAIGN

Habitat for Humanity's new campaign ‘HopeBuilders’ challenges people to sign up and become a HopeBuilder and donate or raise £1235 to build a home for a family currently living in poverty housing.

£1235 will pay for all the materials and labour (most of which is done voluntarily by the new home partner family and others) needed to build a typical Habitat house in the developing world.

A registered HopeBuilder can choose one of four regions they would like their money to support i.e. Africa and the Middle East; Asia and the Pacific; Europe and Central Asia; Latin America and the Caribbean. They can also choose to go and build alongside a home partner family in a number of countries at extra cost.

THE COMMITMENT

Anyone can become a HopeBuilder. Individuals can pledge their support and donate or raise £1235 or give a regular monthly gift of £12.35 to build a home. Organisations can sign up and commit to donating £1235, or appropriate multiples in proportion to the size of their business. Clubs, churches, schools and universities can all become HopeBuilders and help raise the money for a family to have a safe, decent place to live.

THE NEED

According to the UN, there are around 2 billion people living in poverty housing. That's about 30% of the entire world population. There are around a further 100 million people who are homeless – almost twice the population of the UK.

Poverty housing perpetuates poverty:

It causes insecurity: City dwellers in developing countries need up to 12.5 times their annual income to buy a modest house. (UN Habitat, 2001). So most people rent. But this leaves them very vulnerable: for example, they may find themselves evicted without notice. And rented accommodation is built to lower standards which can leave them very vulnerable (e.g. in earthquake zones, rented accommodation is seldom earthquake resistant).

It promotes disease and ill health: Lack of sanitation and overcrowding cause rapid spread of disease, especially in urban areas. Damp walls and unsurfaced floors can cause respiratory problems, whilst insects and even snakes and rats may live in straw and thatch roofing or poorly constructed walls, and they in turn cause and/or spread disease.

It makes it hard to get a job or an education: People can't hold down jobs and children cannot attend school when they are too ill, or always having to find somewhere new to live. In any case, education for children is low priority to parents struggling to survive.

HFH have built 260,000 houses since it began in 1976, the last 150,000 of these were built in the last 5 years. Today, HFH is building a home every 21 minutes. Every £1235 HFH receives from the Hopebuilder campaign, another home can be built and another family housed in safe, decent accommodation.