Habitat Hillsborough: Advocacy Means Supporting and Promoting a Cause You Believe In
At Habitat for Humanity Hillsborough, we advocate to change policies and systems so that we can eliminate barriers to adequate, affordable housing. Our vision is a world where everyone has a decent place to live.
Building is part of the solution, but the less visible aspects of housing like laws, regulations, systems and rules about land and the built environment are critical components, too. Sustainable and inclusive policies and systems can promote access to decent housing, while others can create barriers. And those barriers make it harder to find land for construction, build a home or be able to afford a place to live.
Habitat Hillsborough’s approach to advocacy is based on decades of on-the-ground experience and policy expertise. From our deep understanding of housing and its central role in providing opportunities for families, we work to reform laws in a non-confrontational, nonpartisan way.
Habitat Hillsborough’s has helped families build strength, stability and self-reliance through shelter for more than four decades. Since our founding in 1976, Habitat has served millions of people, and there’s no question that our work has made a significant impact throughout the world.
But it’s not enough. Today, one out of every four people around the world are still in need of a safe, healthy and affordable place to call home. In addition to lifting our hammers, we must also lift our voices in support of adequate shelter. Advocating for sustainable and inclusive policies and systems that promote access to decent housing is critical to achieving our vision of a world where everyone has a decent place to live.
Your advocacy to increase access to stable, affordable housing is needed now more than ever. The significant impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout are still unfolding and the number of families struggling to make ends meet continues to grow.
When you advocate with Habitat for Humanity Hillsborough County Florida, you’re helping to change systems and policies in the U.S., and you’re working alongside people in your community and across the nation who care passionately about creating affordable homes and stronger communities. In places where smart rules and regulations about land and building are established, there is more access to safe, affordable housing. In other places, where policies and systems are weak, there can be barriers to finding land suitable for building a home, building the home itself or ensuring that the home is affordable.
Habitat Hillsborough is uniquely positioned to influence policies and systems. In addition to our direct construction and renovation work in partnership with families in need of decent and affordable shelter, we have the ability – and, now more than ever, the responsibility – to promote concrete, practical public policy housing solutions, ensuring that more families can find appropriate, quality, affordable housing across the U.S.
In 2019, we launched a five-year campaign to mobilize local Habitat Hillsborough organizations, partners, volunteers and community members across the country. Through our Cost of Home campaign, we are finding the solutions and helping to create the policies that will allow 10 million individuals to have access to stable, affordable homes.
