Habitat for Humanity Portland Region

Interactive: Is your housing cost squeezing everything else in your budget? 3 in 4 people worldwide say they've cut back on essentials like food, healthcare or savings just to afford housing. Explore our interactive and see how your household compares.

We’re proud to celebrate Greta Brown, named Portland’s Construction Manager of the Year by Earth Advantage for her leadership on our Twenty Fifth Terrace community!

Under Greta’s guidance, 17 affordable homes have risen from a steep hillside in Southwest Portland. Building on a terrace takes careful coordination of people, equipment, and materials to bring these homes to life.

All of our homes are built to Earth Advantage Platinum standards with high-efficiency heat pumps and only electric appliances.

In Greta’s words, “Energy is the resource, but sustainability is the legacy."

Thank you, Earth Advantage for recognizing the people and partnerships making climate-friendly, affordable homeownership possible across our region!

🎉 45 years of building homes, strengthening communities and opening doors to homeownership!

Today is a special day for Habitat for Humanity Portland Region: we were founded on October 1, 1981. That makes us the first Habitat for Humanity affiliate on the West Coast and the 15th in the world.

Here’s how it all started, according to our 1991 annual report:
𝙄𝙣 1981, 𝙍𝙚𝙫. 𝙍𝙤𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙩 𝙈𝙘𝙉𝙚𝙞𝙡 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙖 𝙃𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙃𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙥 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙍𝙚𝙫. 𝙅𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙏𝙖𝙠𝙖𝙮𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙜𝙞. 𝘼𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙣𝙫𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙃𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙈𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙁𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙠 𝙞𝙣 𝙋𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙, 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙫𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙤𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧. 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙊𝙘𝙩𝙤𝙗𝙚𝙧, 𝘼𝙪𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙮 𝙎𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙢𝙚𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙃𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙃𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡’𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙖𝙧𝙙... 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙚.

Since then, we have built and repaired homes for more than 3,500 people across Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties.

We’ll be celebrating all month long, with more fun facts from across the decades. Thank you for being part of our story — and for helping us build a stronger Portland region 🩵

What a beautiful day at Gooseberry Trails! Thank you to everyone who joined us today for our Frame a Future celebration 🩵

We're grateful to Pastor Tyler Michel and Habitat homeowner Duffy for speaking alongside Habitat staff and showing us what's possible when community comes together.

More photos and videos coming soon 📸

And there's still time to help us reach our $500,000 fundraising goal! We’ve extended the deadline to October 7.

Your support will help keep more of the 52 homes at Gooseberry Trails within reach of families with few other paths to homeownership - https://habitatportlandregion.org/donate/frameafuture/

When Griffith started volunteering at West Lake Grove last year, he mainly hoped to pick up some construction skills.

Working alongside employees and core volunteers he describes as “incredibly kind and great teachers,” he quickly found he was learning much more.

“Meeting the homeowners and people involved at Habitat really makes you realize you’re participating in improving people’s lives in a way you and they can see and feel,” he says.

Now, he says he has built confidence on and off the build site.

He encourages people interested in volunteering to “ask questions of other volunteers and employees, because you will learn a lot about construction and life.”

Thank you Griffith!

Visit our website today to get involved.

Dark clouds, bright smiles ☁️😊 Wells Fargo volunteers braved the wet weather to help us build Gooseberry Trails, our new community in SW Portland. It’s our biggest ever, with 52 affordable homes!

Every volunteer helps create a place where first-time homeowners can put down roots.

We’re grateful for the time, energy, and teamwork this group brought to the job site. rain or shine!

Yesterday, we kicked off construction on True North with a community of partners, friends, and neighbors. Beyond bringing 50 permanently affordable homes to the University Park neighborhood in North Portland, True North will help address historic displacement by prioritizing applicants with generational ties to the area as part of the N/NE Preference Policy.

“It is a reminder of our shared values that we don’t have to agree on every facet of life to ensure that we materially deliver for people in a way that they can afford, and that the very people that helped create and build the city and the state don’t get pushed out of it,” says Andrea Bell, Executive Director of Oregon Housing and Community Services.

We are honored to be part of this transformative work. To every one of our partners and supporters: thank you for making this project possible.

Special thanks to Dr. Steven Holt, Leslie Goodlow and the Portland Housing Bureau, Council President Juan Carlos González and Metro, Director Andrea Bell and Oregon Housing and Community Services, Dana Fuller Shephard and Arrive Homeownership, Proud Ground, OnPoint Community Credit Union, Senator Jeff Merkley, and Senator Ron Wyden.

"True North represents every sector of our community coming together, learning from the past, choosing what's right for our future,” says Steve Messinetti, President & CEO of Habitat Portland Region.

This is just the beginning! Stay tuned for construction updates and news about this exciting journey: https://habitatportlandregion.org/about/contact-us/ -signup

“I kind of feel like I'm still pinching myself.”

For Andrea, it’s still hard to believe she’s a homeowner. Before moving into her West Lake Grove 3-bedroom this summer, she spent years searching for affordable housing.

With two children and an income destabilized by managing her Crohn’s disease, affording rentals was never easy. In the last few years, she says, it felt nearly impossible; facing larger rent increases every year, she knew her housing situation couldn’t last.

“My kids and I needed a bigger space,” she says. “Plus, I wanted to be able to have something to give them.”

While she got on the waitlist for Section 8 housing, she started applying to Habitat communities: Not one, not two, but four. Finally, her application was chosen in the lottery for West Lake Grove, and she wasted no time building her future — literally.

Andrea has become a beloved member of the build site crew, still volunteering well beyond her required hours. For her, volunteering feels like “a place to put my gratitude.”

Now, she’s settling into the new reality she built with her own two hands. While it’s still hard to believe, life as a homeowner is already bringing relief.

“There’s the peace of not having to worry about a new contract for an apartment,” she says. “Financial stress isn’t something you can therapize away — it’s real. Every day when I wake up, I’m so grateful that I have this place and my kids know that it’s here.”

Andrea, thank you for sharing your story with us and bringing so much dedication and joy to West Lake Grove. We are honored to be a part of your journey and can’t wait to see what the rest holds!

We can’t wait for next week's Frame a Future celebration! What makes it extra special is getting to see and share the progress.

Construction sites where we’ve gathered in past years are now neighborhoods that people call home.

And next week we’ll be at our largest community to date, where 52 new homes are rising in Southwest Portland.

Want to help build what’s next? Thanks to a generous donation match, your gift can go twice as far!

Learn more - https://habitatportlandregion.org/donate/frameafuture/

This week, we welcomed Senator Kate Lieber and Representative Tawna Sanchez, co-chairs of the Oregon Legislature’s Joint Ways and Means Committee, to our new community in Southwest Portland.

Together with our partners at Proud Ground and Habitat for Humanity of Oregon, we talked about what 𝗟𝗜𝗙𝗧 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗛𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 helps make possible for Oregon families — and what it takes to create homeownership opportunities designed to last.

Habitat homeowners purchase their homes with affordable mortgages, build equity over time, and become part of communities designed to remain affordable for future generations. Since 1981, Habitat homeowners have maintained a less than 2% foreclosure rate.

Gooseberry Trails will bring 52 permanently affordable homes to SW Portland, giving families and individuals who have few other paths to homeownership the opportunity to build a future of their own.

Thank you, Sen. Lieber and Rep. Sanchez, for spending time with us, asking thoughtful questions, and learning more about affordable homeownership in Oregon.