Building Initiatives
how we build
New home construction
The Closing of Oxford Green
Habitat’s 20-home community, Oxford Green in Sharswood, has green roofs for stormwater management in addition to meeting ENERGY STAR® standards. 20 Habitat Homeowners are now in home at Oxford Green as of June 2021.
how we repair
Initiatives and partnerships that guide the Home Repair Program’s work
Aging in Place
Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia is a certified Aging In Place (AIP) affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International. The average homeowner who partners with Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia to make critical repairs to their home is 72 years of age. The Home Repair Program works to improve accessibility and safety in homes so that older Philadelphians can comfortably age in place.
Recent funding for the CAPABLE program (Community Aging in Place – Advancing Better Living for Elder) expands Habitat’s AIP work through a partnership with Drexel University’s College of Nursing and Health Professions and Thomas Jefferson University’s College of Rehabilitation Sciences Department of Occupational Therapy. By combining Habitat’s expertise in critical home repairs with the work of nurses and occupational therapists, CAPABLE helps aging Philadelphia homeowners to stay healthy and safe as they grow older in their homes.
For Homeownership, Habitat’s future home designs include flexible space on the first floors of each home. This ensures homeowners can enjoy and live in a space that meets their needs at every point in their life.
Healthy Homes
Habitat is a partner in the Home Preservation Initiative (HPI). HPI is a collaborative service delivery model that provides high quality home repairs in a cost-effective manner within a targeted area of West Philadelphia.
Habitat is part of a subset of HPI partners to receive funding from the BUILD Health Challenge in collaboration with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Through this funding, HPI seeks to improve asthma outcomes related to unhealthy housing in five neighborhoods in West Philadelphia. By combining home repairs and community health worker home visits, HPI aims to significantly reduce emergency department visits and hospitalizations due to pediatric asthma. Using outcome data, the collaboration will show health care cost savings, aiming to make a strong case for Medicaid reimbursement for home repairs.
for philadelphia veterans
Repair Corps
As a member of Habitat for Humanity International’s Repair Corps program, Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia partners with veterans and their families throughout the City of Brotherly Love on critical home repairs. Repair Corps is generously funded by The Home Depot Foundation.
Hunting Park repairs with Esperanza
Through funding from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh, Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia plays the role of general contractor in a partnership with Esperanza to bring affordable home repairs to the Hunting Park community. Hunting Park is a fast-growing neighborhood, quickly establishing itself as a gateway to Latino Philadelphia.
Through this partnership, Esperanza’s Housing and Economic Development (EHED)’s program, the Building Hope Critical Home Repair Initiative, will provide low-cost critical home repairs to 20 owner-occupied homes along the North 5th St corridor.