Thank you to the County of Los Angeles and Supervisor Kathryn Barger who awarded $350,000 to Habitat for Humanity San Fernando/Santa Clarita Valleys in support of social service initiatives and programs as part of our affordable veteran homeownership project in Santa Clarita.
The grant will help the third and final phase of our 78-home Veteran Enriched Neighborhood® reach completion. Our homeowners pay a mortgage which is reinvested into new homes and the surrounding community— meaning that all contributions create more opportunities for reinvestments by our veteran homeowners, leveraging grant dollars exponentially. Contributions don’t only benefit our military families, but the surrounding Santa Clarita Valley and Los Angeles County areas as well.
Through our Veteran Enriched Neighborhood® Model, which was developed by our sister agency Homes 4 Families™, we couple affordable home ownership for military families with wraparound services designed to move these families up the economic ladder.
The homes currently under construction are fully ADA 1-story 3-bedroom homes, and 2-story 4-bedroom homes with accommodative features to maximize independence, promote aging-in-place, and prevent excess disability. These include features designed to address knee and back pain, auditory problems, PTSD, TBI, and more. Additionally, we have made efforts to not only make the homes themselves affordable, but ongoing maintenance and utilities affordable as well. All homes minimally meet the requirement for California Green Tier 2 Standards. In water conservation efforts, all homes utilize low-flow toilets, tankless water heaters, and all landscaping is drought-tolerant. In energy conservation efforts, all homes are equipped with Energy Star Appliances as well as solar panels. The community itself will include a Veterans Orchard, an Urban Community Garden, a sport court, and an open green space park.
Thank you to the County of Los Angeles and to Supervisor Kathryn Barger for helping to move low-income military families up into the middle class!