Habitat for Humanity South Carolina possesses a collaborative, flexible, and innovative approach to a decades-long mission of addressing housing challenges throughout the state.
COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA / ACCESS Newswire / April 21, 2025 / With the rising costs of rent, prebuilt homes, and land and materials, homeownership is inaccessible for many throughout South Carolina. As the only nonprofit homeownership program with a presence across the state, Habitat for Humanity South Carolina and its network of 24 community affiliates serve residents earning 30% to 80% of the area median income.
The team's traditional service model is twofold: helping families achieve an "affordable" mortgage, meaning no more than 30% of the household income is used on housing, and assisting with home repair and critical maintenance matters. Habitat accomplishes these goals by increasing the amount of affordable homes, improving access to credit, optimizing land use, employing education initiatives, and more.
"Affordable homeownership is a challenge that affects everyone in a community," says Nancy Lee, executive director. "What we do is bigger than any one single person."
When Habitat was working with a health care system, an employee reached out and shared she had purchased her first home through the organization decades ago. Because of this accomplishment, she was able to receive an education, start a career in health care, and raise her children in the home. Eventually, she purchased a new home that fit her changing needs and passed down her paid-off home to her child's family. She still volunteers with Habitat to support the same community that gave her a helping hand when she needed it most.
"Habitat is more than what meets the eye. We're not just building houses; we're building lives," says Lee. "We're building generational wealth, healthy families, stronger communities, and a stable future."
A Refuge in the Storm
While Habitat has remained consistent for several decades in its goal to combat housing challenges in South Carolina, the team's innovative approach is ever evolving. One example of that flexibility can be found in its Hurricane Helene recovery campaign.
When Hurricane Helene hit South Carolina in 2024, Habitat took the initiative on disaster relief efforts, an uncharted territory for the team. By collaborating with state agencies, nonprofits, and funders in a single location, Habitat streamlined tasks like identifying households in need, meaning more time, energy, and funds could be devoted to repair work. Habitat partnered with the South Carolina Office of Resilience's Disaster Case Management Department, which covers intake and eligibility screening to respond quickly to unmet housing needs, ensuring that a single phone number throughout the state directs South Carolinians to a disaster case manager. Other partners in this initiative include the American Red Cross and Central Carolina Community Foundation's One SC Fund. To date, $1.6 million has been raised to support Habitat for Humanity South Carolina's disaster recovery model.
The team at Habitat expects this innovative approach will become a best practice for disaster recovery in the future, and it plans to further embrace more groundbreaking efforts to serve the needs of the community.
"What we do doesn't fit neatly into a box," says Lee. "We can adapt to the needs of South Carolina communities, whether it's disaster response or anywhere else we can fill a gap."
Contact Information
Nancy Lee
Executive Director
803-291-4258
SOURCE: Habitat For Humanity South Carolina
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