Habitat for Humanity Zeros in on Housing Crisis, New Campaign & New Advocacy Director
Habitat for Humanity of Washington State is pushing to increase awareness of the affordable housing crisis the state is in and just gained momentum with the advocacy efforts by hiring Ryan Donohue as the new Advocacy and Policy Director as he leads the Cost of Home campaign. Donohue will be working across the state to raise awareness about the housing crisis and bring in more resources to build more homes.
“His work will be to empower all of the Habitat affiliates throughout the state to raise awareness in their communities about the fact – that it used to be the standard that the home costs about 30% of a family’s income, but new studies show that increase in rents are driving that up to 50 and 60% of the family’s income,” said Michone Preston, CEO.
Donohue will be working across the state to not only raise awareness about the housing crisis, but also bring in more resources to build more homes. This overlaps with the Cost of Home campaign which is to create units that everyone can afford.
“What we plan to due to in Washington State is work with other affordable housing providers and increase the number of affordable units by 250,000 over a five year time frame,” said Preston.
Cost of Home improves housing affordability by setting targets in four areas such as: increasing supply and preservation of affordable homes, optimizing land use for affordable homes, equitably increasing access to credit and ensuring access to and development of communities of opportunity.