Throughout its continuing service to Filipino families in need of decent housing that has now spanned for nearly four decades, Habitat for Humanity Philippines has touched the lives of millions of people, not just from the communities it serves but also the passionate donors and volunteers who have stepped forward to embrace the housing advocacy.
Since 1988, Habitat Philippines has supported over 4.3 million Filipinos to build or improve the places they call home. This includes more than 150,000 families who received new homes, house repair, and housing improvement services. These partner families now enjoy some of the more than 200 community infrastructure projects, such as multipurpose and livelihood centers, health centers, schools, classrooms, libraries, and daycare centers to name a few, that Habitat Philippines constructed to provide families with basic essential services and jumpstart progress in the communities.
An additional 934,120 families were supported to improve their homes through housing loan services provided by partner microfinance institutions.
Equally important to Habitat Philippines' success are the individual contributions of the millions of local and international volunteers who have devoted their time, effort, and resources to build homes and communities for the group's homeowners during the past 35 years.
Building beyond homes, the program of Habitat Philippines is anchored on the Resilient, Inclusive, Sustainable, and Empowered (RISE) Communities Program Framework, that implements a holistic approach to housing and community development in order to empower families to achieve strength, stability, and self-reliance, and create thriving communities.
One of the most notable events in Habitat Philippines' history was the Jimmy Carter Work project (now known as the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project) in 1999, where the former US President and staunch Habitat for Humanity advocate Jimmy Carter led over 14,000 volunteers in building homes in six locations across the country for a week.
Other flagship projects include the Youth Blitz Build project in 2000 when 17,000 volunteers came together to build 319 houses in 13 communities, the Peace Build project in Mindanao in 2001 where the group worked with ex-rebel commanders to establish peace zones where Christian and Muslim refugees can thrive, the BayaniJuan sa Calauan project where the group built 650 housing units for Typhoon Ondoy-affected families within a 107-hectare housing community in partnership with ABS-CBN Foundation and the National Housing Authority (NHA), and the Rebuild Philippines Program from 2013 to 2019 that benefited 34,000 families from Cebu, Leyte, and Bohol hit by super typhoon Yolanda and the 7.2 Bohol earthquake.
Habitat Philippines believes that every home they build enables a family to break the cycle of poverty, transforms lives, and creates stories of success. And they can only continue building more homes, communities, and hope through the contribution and support of more Filipinos.