Our Impact
From building new homes to preserving the ones Californians already love, Habitat’s impact reaches families, neighborhoods, and communities across the state.
Stronger Homes.
Stronger Families.
Stronger Communities.
Across California, local Habitat for Humanity affiliates are working every day to make affordable homeownership possible. They build and rehabilitate homes, provide critical repairs that help people remain safely in the homes they already own, respond when disaster strikes, and create pathways to greater stability and opportunity.
Together, that work adds up to an extraordinary statewide impact.
Through Habitat California’s Collaborative Statewide Impact Project and Homeowner Survey efforts, Habitat affiliates across the state come together to measure 10 years of that impact and tell a larger story - one that goes far beyond the number of homes built.
The data , gathered from the past decade, show what happens when people have access to a safe, stable and affordable place to call home: families build equity, children gain stability, homeowners invest in their futures, and older adults can remain safely in their homes and communities.
Across California, Habitat affiliates create new opportunities for affordable homeownership while helping existing homeowners protect the homes they already have. Over the past decade, that work has touched thousands of homes and thousands of lives.
Building and Preserving Homeownership
1,143
homes built
New opportunities for affordable homeownership.
From 2016–2025, Habitat affiliates across California completed 1,143 homeownership units through new construction, rehabilitation, recycled homes, and other homeownership programs, giving more Californians the opportunity to build stability and a future through a home of their own.
7,078
homes repaired
Helping homeowners stay in the homes they love.
Habitat’s impact doesn’t end with building new homes. Over the same decade, California affiliates completed repairs on 7,078 owner-occupied homes, helping preserve existing affordable housing, improve health and safety, and enable homeowners, many of them older adults, to remain safely in their homes and communities.
13,147
people served
Thousands of Californians. One shared vision.
Behind every home is a person, a family and a story. Over the past 10 years, Habitat affiliates helped 3,267 adults and children move into homes of their own and served another 9,880 people through critical home repair, safety and preservation efforts. Altogether, 13,147 Californians have been served through Habitat’s housing work.
California’s housing market has changed dramatically over the past decade. Land, construction, and home prices have risen. But Habitat affiliates continue finding ways to bridge the affordability gap and make homeownership possible for lower-income Californians.
Keeping Homeownership Within Reach
less than half
Bridging the gap between home value and what families finance.
The median appraised value of a Habitat home has climbed above $500,000, yet the median mortgage remains less than half that amount. Habitat affiliates combine affordable mortgages with subsidies and other resources to help shield buyers from rising housing costs and keep homeownership within reach.
$18 million
in equity
Turning a housing payment into an investment in the future.
Affordable homeownership does something renting cannot: it gives families an opportunity to build an asset of their own. In 2025 alone, Habitat homeowners across California built nearly $18 million in equity simply by paying down the principal on their mortgages.
430,000+ hours
Homeowners are active partners in the journey.
Habitat homeownership is built on partnership. Over the past decade, California Habitat homeowners contributed more than 430,000 hours of hands-on investment, working alongside volunteers to build their homes and the homes of their neighbors, participating in their homeownership journey and creating a stronger future.
A Habitat home is more than a place to live. Stable, affordable homeownership creates a foundation from which families save, pursue education, advance their careers, and create new opportunities for their children. California Habitat homeowners tell us those benefits continue long after move-in.
Change That Lasts for Generations
84%
say homeownership has positively impacted their savings.
With an affordable and predictable housing payment, families have more opportunity to plan for the future. Eighty-four percent of surveyed Habitat households said they are able to save for education, home repairs, retirement, vacations and other priorities.
60%
reported career advancement.
Among surveyed households, 60% reported that a borrower or co-borrower had progressed in their career since moving into their Habitat home through a promotion, raise, or increased job responsibility. And among homeowners who previously worked multiple jobs, 62% were able to stop doing so.
78%
saw a positive impact on their children.
Among surveyed Habitat parents, 78% reported improvements in their children's grades, confidence or school attendance. Even more—84%—said they felt better about their children's future or their ability to support further education.
52%
continued their education.
More than half of surveyed Habitat households had a borrower or co-borrower who completed additional education after purchasing their home - from high school or job training programs to college and advanced degrees. Stable housing can provide the foundation people need to invest not only in a home, but in themselves.
66%
experienced less stress.
The benefits extend to well-being, too. Two-thirds of surveyed Habitat homeowners said they experienced less stress after becoming homeowners, while 80% reported good, very good or excellent mental health.
The Impact of Home
Every number represents something so much bigger - a family with a stable place to call home, an older adult able to remain in the community they’ve built a life in, a child with room to learn and grow, or a homeowner building financial security for the future.
Together, Habitat for Humanity affiliates across California are demonstrating that an investment in affordable homeownership is an investment in people, families and stronger communities—and its impact can last for generations.