St Croix Valley Habitat for Humanity

Breaking ground in an early Spring snowstorm!Your support benefits every area of a family's life—and your impact ripples across neighborhoods and generations. 
Will you build hope and donate today?

What's going on with St. Croix Valley Habitat for Humanity in Pierce & St. Croix Valley?  

We're going BIG this Spring! 

1. Our newest homebuyer Taylor and her kids broke ground on our Ellsworth build at the end of March.  Footings and foundation are in and we're getting ready for framing.  This is the first build in Ellsworth on four sites just next door to the middle school, so we've got lots of work to be done here!
2. We are finishing up repair and beautification of our rehab in Somerset!  We held Women Build April 16-22 at this home, a week of empowering women to strengthen their skills, learn more about our work and meet more women who value affordable housing.  And we've got our board of directors pitching in to wrap up flooring and exterior work May 9th. 
3. Our Veteran Build will soon have our modular home arrive on site for volunteers to seam together, finish the interior and build a garage.  We hope to celebrate completion and welcome a Veteran home right around the 4th of July! 

What exactly is affordable housing?

Affordable housing is housing that a household can pay for, while still having money left over for other necessities like food, transportation, and health care. That means that what’s considered “affordable” depends on a household’s income. The federal government typically defines housing as affordable when it consumes no more than 30 percent of a household’s income. 

Who needs affordable housing?

Ceiling work is a great upper 
arm workout! Everyone. From high-income earners, to hourly wage workers, to people experiencing homelessness, and everyone in between. The rent or home price that is affordable may vary from one household to the next, but the need for housing that is affordable is shared by everyone.

The median home sales price for homes in our two counties has jumped from an average of $182,000 in 2007 to $335,000 in the first quarter of 2024. A rise in materials during Covid, and the need for more space sent home prices skyrocketing and saw housing inventory decline to historic lows.

Why is it important?

A large and growing share of the population cannot afford its housing costs. Nationally, more than one in seven households are what economists call “severely cost burdened.” This means that they pay half or more of their income on housing.

How does our program work?

There are three requirements to becoming a homebuyer family with us.  If you know someone interested, here's what that process looks like:

1. Applicants fill out a preliminary application which indicates income qualifications.  Potential buyers must make between 40-80% of our Area Median Income (In Pierce & St. Croix Counties, that is $124,900).  A homebuyer will pay an affordable mortgage that is supplemented by a second mortgage that we provide. The second mortgage is a 0% interest, forgivable loan that homebuyers won't ever pay unless they sell their home prior to the satisfaction of the mortgage.
2. A potential partner must show need for affordable housing.  Need can vary and may include things like their family no longer fits in their current living situation, their current home is unhealthy or unsafe, among other things.
3. Our partners contribute sweat equity of up to 250 hours of volunteer labor to the building of their homes.  That means they build right next to volunteers who are helping support this work!  

Where does your donation go?

A gift to Habitat means we can build more affordable housing. 

Our staff is made up of four full-time team members running our affiliate and construction services.  And three part-time folks who run our small ReStore here in Hudson.  We are blessed to have a landlord who helps us afford our rent and supporters who contribute in-kind materials for our builds to help keep those costs down.   As a self-funded Habitat affiliate, we rely on the generous gifts that come from our donors and supporters.  There's nothing we can't do without you!