Building Strength, Stability & Self-Reliance
No matter who we are or where we come from, we all deserve a decent place to call home. We deserve to know we have the power to take care of ourselves and build our own futures.
For more than 30 years, Tacoma/Pierce County Habitat for Humanity has provided affordable homeownership opportunities to modest-income families and worked toward our goal of eliminating substandard housing in our region.
Habitat homeowners:
- Realize the dream of homeownership through education and individual consultations
- Provide stability for their children
- Have aging in place options
- Gain improved health, physical safety and security through building standards
- Find interest and opportunities to become engaged in their communities
Why Habitat?
Homeownership is a much bigger challenge than it has ever been. Land is expensive. Rents are climbing at staggering rates.
- Between 1991 and 2021, the average price of a single-family home in Pierce County rose 258%—from $132,540 to $546,318.
- The National Association of Homebuilders say that at current rates, over 75% of Washington residents are priced out of homeownership.
- The State of the Nation’s Housing Report (2022) shows that it takes 2.2 full-time jobs at minimum wage for a Pierce County resident to afford the fair market rent of $1,629 on a 2-bedroom apartment. The data also tells us that an affordable rent at minimum wage would be just $753 per month.
- Racial disparity in homeownership is worse today than in the 1960s, when redlining and housing discrimination were legal. The national homeownership rates of Black households are 45.3 percent—some 28 percentage points below the rate for white households. In Tacoma, things are much more dire: just 33 percent of Black Tacomans own a home.
Behind statistics like these are hardworking families who are too often making difficult choices between paying rent or providing for daily life and emergent needs. Every rent contract cycle brings increasing rental prices. These steep payment hikes force families out and, with every move, children change schools and fall an estimated 3-6 months behind their peers from more stable living conditions.
With so many families scrambling and struggling to find affordable housing, Tacoma/Pierce County Habitat for Humanity, along with its donors and volunteers, stands in the gap between affordability and accessibly. Together, we provide an avenue to realize homeownership and achieve stability.