Habitat for Humanity Builds Big in Portland

Kirk Johnson chronicles the nonprofit housing builder's move into larger-scale housing development in Oregon, as it takes advantage of the depressed real estate market, and the kindness of donors.

1 minute read

May 13, 2012, 7:00 AM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


Although "Across most of the nation, one-at-a-time houses,
financed by church suppers and staffed by volunteer hammer-swingers, are
still the norm for Habitat," as the first phase of the group's largest project in Oregon
history opens this spring on
Portland's east side, Johnson explores the tactical shifts taking place in branches across the country. 

"Other Habitat branches have also pivoted in the recession, trying
different angles in a dark time. In Nevada and Florida, for example,
some Habitat groups stopped new construction entirely and shifted to
renovation, buying abandoned properties in cities racked by high
foreclosure rates." 

"Business leaders and housing experts said that Portland - partly
through Habitat's timing in betting big in a down market, partly through
a donor network led by Mr. Gray that stepped up to help even as
corporate support mostly collapsed - is creating something that will
resonate long after the recession: Habitat neighborhoods."

Friday, May 11, 2012 in The New York Times

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