sponsor me: help create and maintain affordable housing in Oakland

2008 Carter Work Project in Mississippi

Each year since 1984, former president Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn have given a week or more of their time to help Habitat for Humanity build and maintain affordable housing in the U.S. and around the world. I'm fortunate to have taken part in the 25th annual 2008 Carter Work Project (CWP) along the Gulf Coast, and I get to take part in this year's 30th annual CWP in the SF Bay Area.

It's not just building new housing. Some people will be working to repair and do needed maintenance on homes in East Oakland, as part of Habitat's foreclosure-prevention strategy, while others will be doing community projects like deconstructing an abandoned building in William "Bill" Patterson Park in Brookfield Village. Even more projects will be going on in San Jose. I've been volunteering with Habitat since 1995, and I'll probably be helping lead a crew on one of the repair houses.

But the CWP isn't just about building and repairing affordable housing, it's also a fundraiser to help with future projects. As part of my participation, I need to raise money, and that's where you come in. You can either donate through my FirstGiving.com page, or donate via check to Habitat for Humanity East Bay / Silicon Valley. Habitat is a 501(c)3 non-profit, and all contributions are tax-deductible as allowed by law.

Thank you for your support! Read more about the Carter Work Project at Habitat for Humanity East Bay / Silicon Valley.

support Habitat for Humanity!

2010 build-a-thon

As you probably know, I'm a long-time volunteer and supporter of Habitat for Humanity. Habitat East Bay (HEB) is the local affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, which is working to eliminate poverty housing world-wide, one house at a time. Habitat houses are simple, decent, and affordable to low-income families around the world. Part of how HEB supports Habitat world-wide is by tithing -- at least 10% of the funds raised support Habitat's mission in other countries. Currently HEB is supporting affiliates in Afghanistan, Tanzania and El Salvador.

There are a variety of ways to support Habitat East Bay, centered around volunteering and/or donating. Coming up is a unique way to do both -- HEB's annual Earth Day build-a-thon. It's a four day event, HEB's biggest fundraiser and building event of the year. In four days we'll be framing 7 houses, from the foundation up to the roof. Like a walk-a-thon, participants raise funds, in this case to help pay for the lumber and nails used in framing the houses. It's a somewhat crazy event, but a lot of fun. If you're interested in participating, read more about it on HEB's build-a-thon page.

If you don't feel up to participating in the build-a-thon, you can sponsor me! I'm trying to raise $250 for each of the 4 days, and I'm halfway there. Donations to HEB are tax deductible as allowed by law, and donations of any size are welcomed. If you'd rather not have some eaten up by credit card fees, et al, you can write a check to Habitat for Humanity East Bay and I'll deliver it personally.

You can also donate or volunteer during the rest of the year, when there's no fundraising requirement. The building pace is a lot more laid back, and it's a great opportunity to learn some handy skills. I've been at it a while, but I learned enough and gained enough confidence to design and build a small addition to our house. No guarantee you'll come away ready for that, but you will learn some handy skills, work with some great people, and help build affordable housing for a family here in Oakland. And if construction isn't your thing, help is needed in the office and on various committees, too. Support Habitat for Humanity, and make Oakland, the East Bay and the world a little better.

Habitat dedication at Tassafaronga

Kinsell Commons

Families, friends, volunteers and government leaders gathered on Saturday at Kinsell Commons in Tassafaronga Village to dedicate 14 new Habitat for Humanity homes.

There were a number of speakers, including Habitat East Bay CEO Janice Jensen, board chair David Barron, Oakland Housing Authority Executive Director Eric Johnson, Oakland mayor Jean Quan, Oakland council member Larry Reid and state Senator Loni Hancock. All of them spoke about the improvements in the area, not just the new Habitat homes, but the surrounding affordable apartments, nearby schools and the brand-new East Oakland library. The public housing project that used to be where the Tassaforanga development now stands was in terrible shape, and a magnet for crime. Now there are clean, comfortable apartments and homes.

Mayor Jean Quan

Mayor Quan spoke briefly (she was headed next for her townhall meeting in Havenscourt), but long enough to get some digs in about former mayor and now California governor Jerry Brown, and about the continuing need for redevelopment funds -- Jerry is currently trying to end redevelopment agencies in California. Some redevelopment projects are bad, but there's no arguing that redevelopment has helped Oakland, in particular East Oakland. Read about the potential impact on Habitat for Humanity.

Regardless of how you feel about redevelopment, this area of East Oakland is getting better. Tammerlin Drummond wrote about Deep East Oakland rising in January. Habitat for Humanity East Bay has been working to help make Oakland (and the entire East Bay) better for over 20 years, and I've been volunteering with them for 15 of those, mostly in East Oakland. Besides Kinsell Commons (14+8 homes), there are Habitat developments on Edes Avenue (54 homes) and 105th Avenue (40 homes) as well as several smaller developments and rehabs. I've watched some of the ups and downs of the area over the years, and it is slowly improving.

Habitat builds affordable home ownership opportunities and communities, both here in Oakland and around the world. Habitat sells homes at cost to qualifying families. In lieu of a down payment, the family is required to put in 500 hours of "sweat equity" helping build their home and those of their neighbors. To keep things affordable, they get interest-free loans based on their income. (To make sure the houses stay affordable, Habitat gets first right to buy back a home if a family needs to sell.) And to help make this all work, Habitat uses a lot of volunteers, both on the worksite and in the office to make it all come together. The resulting homes are green, with green design features to keep the environmental impact and energy usage low. (Thanks to PG&E and Grid Alternatives for the solar PV systems.) And to help families make it as first-time homeowners, Habitat builds communities, involving homeowners and making sure they get to know their neighbors before their homes are even built.

happy new homeowners

Check out the great coverage (including video) at Oakland North. For more pictures and coverage, check out the Habitat East Bay / Thrivent Builds blog.

Additional pictures at Habitat East Bay's Facebook page.

Home Energy Efficiency

blower door test

You may remember a while back I attended the Greening Oakland Homes fair. A lot of the info was familiar to me, but I was inspired to have a home energy audit done. My experiences with that were recently published on Jetson Green, a green building website I've done some writing for in the past. Whether you're a do-it-yourself type or not, it has some good info on making your house more energy efficient.

Rebuilding Together Oakland

Decent housing is a basic need for everyone. Habitat for Humanity is a great organization, working to eliminate substandard housing world-wide (BTW, thanks for the build-a-thon donations!) In the U.S., that's largely done through building new homes which are sold to low-income people currently paying too much of their income to rent sub-standard housing.

But a trip around Oakland or pretty much any city will show you a large stock of homes of another sort. These aren't people who are about to lose their homes because of sub-prime mortgages, or who bought something bigger than they can afford, or are paying most of their income for rent. These are people who own their homes, and have worked hard to purchase them. But because of age, illness, and/or income level haven't been able to maintain and improve their homes. That's where Rebuilding Together (RTO) comes in.

Mildred

Like Habitat, they use mostly volunteers, and homeowners have to qualify for the service. Through the month of April, groups of volunteers descend on the selected homes and work to repair and upgrade them. I volunteered with RTO for the first time on Saturday, and joined a dozen or so others from around the Bay Area to help Mildred, a homeowner in East Oakland. She raised 7 children, most of whom she put through college, too. The home was one of the first in the area, built at least 100 years ago. The family added on to the back in the 1940s, but it's still a small house. Mildred is 83, and suffers from arthritis and other health problems, but she's still active at her church (where she's known as 'the mother of the church' because of her ubiquitous nurturing.) She uses a cane to get around the house, and a mobility chair (RTO put in a wheelchair lift last year) for longer trips.

There's a list of problems with the house, but the first problem was getting in to work on them. Every time any of Mildred's children moved, it was: "Hey mom, can I keep some of my stuff there? I'll get it later." Add to that donations collected for church and the homeless in her neighborhood. Add to that 30+ years of "stuff" from living there. So most of us spent the morning moving stuff from the house and storage in the backyard to 3 piles: (1) keep (2) donate or (3) dumpster. Fortunately several of her children (and one grandchild) were there to help sort through things. Unfortunately some of the stuff was water-damaged, so the dumpster pile was pretty big. But we set aside various items, and several different scrap haulers took at least one and half pickup loads to the scrapyard instead.

very full dumpster

After lunch, we split into different groups. One worked on sorting stuff from the attic; others cleaned out the kitchen and pulled down the water-damaged ceiling; a couple of people demolished the bathroom. The main electrical panel had been updated by RTO, but there were approximately three (3) outlets through the entire house. I worked with a volunteer contractor on installing some new electrical outlets. While he worked with another volunteer to run new wires under the house, I cut holes in the walls for new outlets.

There's still a lot of work to do, but we made good progress on repairing Mildred's home and making it safer and more comfortable for her, too. Rebuilding Together Oakland also works throughout the year with their Safe-At-Home & Energy Efficiency program. As with Habitat, you don't have to be skilled, but if you do have skills that's always a bonus! I'll be volunteering later in April (after the build-a-thon), but I'm not sure if I'll be assigned to Mildred's house or another.