World Habitat Day

Since 1986, the first Monday in October has been designated World Habitat Day by the United Nations. The U.N. considers safe, affordable housing to be a human right. According to Habitat International, 1 in 6 families in the United States spend at least half of their income on housing costs. When so much money is …

Meet the Care-a-Vanners

It was great to get to know the Care-a-Vanners while they were in town! Most of them spend about 6 or 7 weeks on the road a year, visiting different Habitat build sites across the country. Sometimes they visit sites close to home in Minnesota, but they've also gone as far away as Texas and …

Here Come the Care-a-Vanners!

Care-a-Vanners spend their time traveling the country in RVs, volunteering at different Habitat construction sites. They spend about two weeks at each site they visit, camping out in local campgrounds. A group of Care-a-Vanners arrived in Grand Rapids on September 7th and will be here through the 21st, helping us with our current home build …

Back to School: Housing and Education

As students in Minnesota return to school this week it is worth reflecting on the ways that housing can affect educational outcomes. This research summary from the Center for Housing Policy discusses the ways that a child's housing situation can affect their education. Affordable housing helps students achieve more by reducing stress caused by homelessness, …

Build Update: August 2019

A few weeks ago we stopped by the site of our current home build to see our volunteers in action. That day on the build site a volunteer group from Star of the North Lions Club was working. Many of the volunteers had worked with us or on other construction projects in the past, so …