2024-170-E-AMS-Habitat for Humanity-Supplemental Weatherization to Home Repair

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P a g e 10 o f 18 in decades of deferred maintenance, creating a living situation that is urgently unsafe. Habitat’s Home Preservation program offers a low-cost option for homeowners who cannot afford critical repairs to their homes through traditional means. Program participants pay between $50 and $450 total for the work they receive, depending on their income level. In addition to its work building new affordable homes, Habitat considers this work to preserve the affordable housing stock that already exists in our County to be essential and urgent. Once these properties are sold and often redeveloped, they will likely never be affordable again. According to the most recent U.S. Census, Orange County’s population identifies as: 76.7% White, 11.9% African American, 8.8% Hispanic and 7.9% Asian. In Orange County, 67% of white households in Orange County are homebuyers while less than half (44%) of Black households own their home. Homeownership is a critical tool for building wealth. Due to a legacy of systemic racism and discriminatory housing practices, Black Americans continue to face significant barriers to homeownership. The racial gap in homeownership is a primary driver of the wealth gap between Black and white households. The median net wealth of white families is 10 times greater than that of Black families ($171,000 vs. $17,600). As a result, Black parents have dramatically less wealth, assets, and economic security to pass on to their children, driving economic, educational, and housing disparities for the next generation. For this reason, it is incredibly important that Black families are not priced out of the homes they already own, and have affordable options to repair and improve their homes when needed. 15. Please describe any ways in which low‐income or marginalized communities/households were engaged in the creation of this project proposal: Habitat began completing exterior repairs for Orange County homeowners in 2010. In 2016, the program was expanded to include more extensive work and interior work in direct response to community demand. The pilot for this expansion took place in the Northside neighborhood in partnership with the Jackson Center. Over the years, Habitat has regularly adjusted the program in response to what we are seeing on applications for assistance. It is Habitat’s experience that many homeowners who apply for critical repairs also request weatherization work. Of the 427 open applications in the Orange County Home Preservation Coalition database, 115 include HVAC repairs or replacements and 136 include thermal and moisture repairs, which includes insulation and windows. These numbers clearly demonstrate that low-income households are in need of these services. DocuSign Envelope ID: DBE8454E-5CDD-4377-A739-3C0016853D4E