History & Impact
Our History
Founded in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller, Habitat for Humanity International is a true world leader in addressing today’s issues of poverty housing.
In 1984, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn took their first Habitat for Humanity work trip to New York City. Their personal involvement in Habitat’s mission—through the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project—brought the organization national visibility, and sparked coast-to-coast interest in Habitat’s work. As a result, Habitat for Humanity International experienced dramatic growth in the number of new affiliates around the country.
Four years later, in 1988, a group of concerned Portsmouth citizens founded Habitat for Humanity of South Hampton Roads. Dedicated to making affordable housing a matter of conscience and action, Habitat SHR completed its first home in 1990, in Portsmouth’s Prentis Park neighborhood.
The organization has since afforded more than 240 families the opportunity to become homeowners and has provided critical home repairs to more than 40 low-income homeowners with our home repair programs.
Our Impact
Habitat homeowners and their families experience a positive, wide-reaching, and permanent impact. Simply having a quiet place to do homework and a safe environment in which to play greatly benefits children. Studies show that children of homeowners are:
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20% less likely to become teen parents
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25% more likely to graduate from high school
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twice as likely to graduate college
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60% more likely to own their own homes within ten years of moving out of their parents’ household.
Habitat for Humanity of South Hampton Roads continues to carry out our mission that was established more than 30 years ago.