Brief Summary of Habitat for Humanity of Sonoma County History:

Habitat for Humanity of Sonoma County is an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International. The affiliate was formed in 1984 by a group of Sonoma County residents primarily from First Congregational United Church of Christ (FCUCC), who wanted to end poverty housing. As an all volunteer organization with limited resources, the affiliate devoted themselves to rehabilitating existing housing for low income households. Community volunteers completed 18 rehabilitations and in 1991 built the first Habitat home in Sonoma County. Then in 2000, with the support of the Methodist Church, the affiliate initiated a ‘blitz build’ and built the second home for a family in need in one week.

In 2002, the Board of Directors made a bold decision; to build multiple homes over the next five years, with the ultimate objective of becoming continuous builders. The board decided to no longer be deterred by the high cost of land in Sonoma County.  They hired a small staff to coordinate the recruitment of volunteers, to provide training, planning and supervision of home building.

Accomplishments:

In 2004 Habitat for Humanity of Sonoma County completed the first two homes in a six house subdivision called, ‘Kali’.  This brought the total count of completed homes to four. The first Kali houses also earned the first ‘Green Build Certificate’ for a nonprofit from the City of Santa Rosa.  In March of 2006 we completed a third home and in April 2006 the fourth house was completed. The final two homes were completed in early 2007. Celebration of this momentous event  occured in Spring 2007. It is clear that Habitat’s continuous build program is moving forword in Sonoma County.  Upon completion of Kali, Habitat will have provided permanent housing for thirteen adults and nineteen children.

New Sites:

The goal is to continue to build affordable housing. Habitat for Humanity of Sonoma County now has 9 new sites for houses. Two lots are located in a 13-home infill subdivision in Sebastopol (donated by a developer), two additonal lots in Sebastopol  donated by a private donor are located on Johnson Street, and a third site in Sebastopol with several affordable homes may be forthcoming. Habitat also has plans to build five homes in the Woodland Hills project in Cotati and has partnered with Children's Village to coordinate a "Blitz Build" to construct a grand-parents building. Healdsburg has a two-lot site that was acquired in 2007 and will begin construction smetime this Fall.

Five Year Goal:

Habitat for Humanity of Sonoma County’s five year goal is to build 20 homes by 2010.  In our first 10 years we completed 18 rehabilitations and built our first home.  In the next five years we hired staff and completed two more houses.  In order for us to achieve our goal we plan to build 4 houses a year within the next 5 years. Our growth mirrors that of Habitat for Humanity worldwide. The first 100,000 Habitat homes were built over a total of 24 years -- while the second 100,000 were completed in an amazing five-year span!

On-Going Goal:

While building houses is our primary goal, another goal encompasses the building and revitalization of our community one house at time.  We do this by partnering with the community and home owner families. Studies repeatedly demonstrate that homeownership increases children’s perform in school, and allows their family members to be more involved in community activities and pursue higher education.  The majority of the work at Habitat is done by community volunteers. Last year we logged more than 10,000 volunteer hours. Volunteers work on building the houses, on planning committees and in the office.  Habitat for Humanity of Sonoma County programs include: Build (construction), Community Outreach, Family Support, and Home Ownership.  All ‘programs’ are supported by the staff and volunteer committees.

Two Chapters of History Series By Iginio "Gene" Fontana

One of our long-time donors, Gene Fontana, volunteered to research and document the history of our Sonoma County Habitat for Humanity affiliate. Gene, a retired Napa County teacher and author of several articles and books detailing local history and biographies of local figures, has written the first two installments: "Opening of the Door" and "The Founding People - The Seed". Gene has been researching affiliate documents and interviewing members of the original Board of Directors to compile a detailed narration of our affiliate's history. We look forward to more chapters in the future. A link to Chapter One  and Chapter Two  of this fascinating story resides on the right side of this web page, as well as images from the Habitat scrapbook too - Stay tuned!!