Midland County Habitat for Humanity Awarded the Why Home Matters Evidence Builder Award

Midland County Habitat for Humanity affiliate was awarded a $15,000 Why Home Matters Evidence Builder grant. This award recognizes exceptional work led by the U.S. Habitat network to build evidence demonstrating the power of Habitat’s programs. These awards, presented by Habitat for Humanity International’s U.S. Research and Measurement team, are an extension of Habitat’s work to make the evidence-based case for Habitat.

 

Midland County Habitat for Humanity (MCHFH) was awarded for the 2018 Midland County Housing Needs and Market Assessment study that was a joint effort between many community partnerships. MCHFH was complimented on how the affiliate leveraged this report to identify change and improvements to better meet the housing needs of Midland. Most communities in America seek to be both economically sustainable and socially equitable. The twin goals, in their combination, may be aspirational but they are worth striving for. To meet such lofty goals, a community must have a housing market that functions toward those ends. Midland County’s housing market offers a kind of contradiction; it is both full of choice and generally affordable, but, at the same time, it is not supporting the community’s future economic vitality nor is it serving the needs of the county’s poorest residents. The housing analysis was a way to identify how the Midland area community could respond to the challenges and opportunities it is facing when it comes to housing.  This report represents the beginning of an effort to answer that question. czb was retained by Midland County Habitat for Humanity, in partnership with the City of Midland, the United Way of Midland County, and Midland Area Homes, to complete an analysis of the county’s housing market and to assess its affordable housing need.

 

The study was used for evidence in funding the multifmaily home build. MCHFH received a $15,000 award, to be used toward future Research & Measurement efforts.

 

To read the housing study click here