Women Build
CCSWG is the proud presenting sponsor of Women Build for 2024!
Strong Women Build Strong Communities
California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls was the 2024 Presenting Sponsor for Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sacramento Women Build for the third year running. The annual Women Build event brings together women in our community from all backgrounds, ages, skill sets and industries to make a difference with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sacramento by helping build and repair greatly needed affordable housing in the Sacramento region.
The Commission was honored to once again host this opportunity for skill building and volunteerism to providing more accessible and affordable housing for families in California’s capital city.
Affordable Housing – A Cornerstone for Changing Lives
More than 550 women joined us last year for this month-long Women Build event to provide a hand-up to working single mothers and families in need of safe, decent and affordable housing. We are thrilled that this year, we will be returning to Cornerstone to finish what we started in 2023.
Cornerstone an innovative affordable housing community which will soon become home to nearly 400 individuals when it is complete. Cornerstone is a first-of-its-kind community built in partnership with Mutual Housing California, featuring 18 new affordable Habitat homes and 108 Mutual Housing affordable apartment rentals. This community as a whole will include bridge housing for formerly homeless, units for former foster youth, affordable rental and affordable – equity building, homeownership. And across the street, a nearly $4M park is being reconstructed for the community and the families who will soon live at Cornerstone to play at.
On the Habitat side specifically, is an affordable homeownership community that will soon be a place to call HOME for over 90 low-income individuals, including more than 60 children. These energy efficient and sustainable homes will be all electric, equipped with solar and are EV ready. Each of these equity building affordable homeownership opportunities will be purchased by hard working, qualified Habitat partner families earning between 30-80% of AMI, who after putting in 500 hours of sweat equity building them, will purchase them with an affordable 30 year, zero interest equivalent mortgage.
more children who will have a place to call home
hours of sweat equity required
%
interest 30 year mortgage
people will call the Cornerstone community home
Obstacles and Intersections
No matter where you are across the state, the need for affordable housing and especially equity building affordable homeownership for women and under those of represented communities of color, is dire. It will take all of us working together to make the cost of home something that every Californian can afford.
Women, especially those who serve as head of their families and women of color, disproportionately face obstacles that make accessing decent, affordable housing seem impossible. Nearly half of all households and almost 60% of Black households in California are excluded from homeownership opportunities. As of 2019, only 41% of Black families and 49% of Latinx families owned their home, compared to 68% of White families, and 66% of Asian families. By investing in affordable ownership production, lower-income Californians, inclusive of Black and Latinx households, can access permanently affordable, equity-building homes that serve as the single most effective approach to achieving economic and racial justice.
According to reports by the California Budget and Policy Center, in a five-year period leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, many women across the state were experiencing economic hardship — and this was happening during the longest period of economic growth on record! It’s vital that we work together now to invest in opportunities for women’s wealth building and long-term stability before the next crisis hits. Housing is critical to that equation. Affordable homeownership is the key to providing strength, stability, and self-reliance to hardworking low-income families and individuals. California women ARE essential, and we are stronger when we build together.
Build With Us!
As the state entity tasked with assessing gender equity in multiple issue areas, the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls is deeply committed to improving the lives of women and girls through public policy, research, and education – but sometimes, we also know you just have to roll up your sleeves and get to work.
The Commission was proud to continue its commitment to Habitat for Humanity for 2024 as the Presenting Sponsor of the 2024 Women Build month. This effort included a dedicated “Women Build” day on March 6th, 2024, featuring our Commissioners, Youth Advisory Council members, and Women’s Recovery Response Grant recipients. We were proud to spend the day with our partners as we helped bring affordable housing to 18 families in the Cornerstone development. Over the course of March, more than 500 women come together to provide a hand-up to working single mother and families in need of safe and affordable housing.
