Thank you for Making This First Year A Great Year

July 2, 2026

Pull up a chair. There is no better place to reflect on a year than from the porch — the part of a home where neighbors become family and where, if you sit long enough, you can see exactly how far you’ve come.

One year ago, on June 30th, I took the helm of this organization in the middle of a great deal of transition. The community had questions. A lot of questions. And here we sit, one year later, having confounded every expectation — not because of any one of us, but because of all of us. This is the year I got to watch our mission live and breathe: God’s love, in action.

So let me take you on a walk down memory lane.

When I arrived, I asked to see the books and to see where our partner families stood. Some were delinquent, a few on the very brink of foreclosure. We went to work, one family at a time, and today I am proud to tell you our delinquency rate is less than one percent. There is not a bank in Durham that can say that. Because in Durham, we don’t just build homes. We build homeowners.

This year, that conviction showed up everywhere I looked. We completed the construction of our very first townhomes — and every single one of them is now sold. We deepened what partnership means, requiring 15 in-person hours of financial literacy in partnership with DCLT, so that families don’t just move in, they stay and thrive. And our volunteers, nearly 200 new neighbors who joined the pipeline this year,  saved us roughly $85,000 on every home they helped raise. That is the power of showing up.

I want to pause on a number that means a great deal to me. This spring, your generosity raised $126,000 for our Spring Repairs Campaign — dollars that went straight to work helping low-income Durham homeowners stay safely, and in place, in the homes they love. Together with the 3 year and $1.7 million repairs grant we secured from the City of Durham, that support allowed our Repairs Team to complete 76 repairs this year: 76 families who get to keep their roof, their ramp, their front door, and the memories made behind it. Keeping a longtime neighbor in their home is every bit as much our mission as handing a new family their keys.

And we are just getting started. In the year ahead, we’ll launch our “Build Back the Block” tour to put repair dollars into the hands of local Durham contractors, put a laptop in the hands of every homeowner who comes home this cycle through our partnership with E2D, and bring back the beloved Playhouse Build. We are also moving steadily toward a milestone that represents thousands of changed lives — our 500th home — and breaking ground on our newest initiative, The House That Faith Built (coming 2027).

None of it happens without you. Forty years in, this remains the truest thing I know: every home, every homeowner, every year like this one is a foundation underneath somebody’s future.

As we enter a new year, we know the challenges before us are real. Land and construction costs continue to rise. Working families are being priced out. Longtime homeowners are struggling to afford critical repairs. Too many people who serve Durham every day cannot afford to live here.

But we also know what is possible when this community chooses to act. We know how to build. We know how to repair. We know how to prepare homeowners. We know how to bring volunteers, donors, businesses, congregations, public institutions, and community leaders together around the sacred promise of home.

So, as we close this year, I simply want to say thank you and ask if you want to help us do it again.  We want to build 8 to 10 new homes in Durham next fiscal year and we would love for you to be apart of that work.  

We are stronger. We are clearer. We are more focused. We are more accountable. And we are more determined than ever to build a Durham where families can live, own, remain, and thrive. Because love does not stand still. Love builds. Love repairs. Love restores. Love makes room. Love opens doors. And love says to every family, “You belong here.”

Thank you for sitting on this porch with us for a little HabiChat. The best building years of this organization are still ahead.  Won’t you give today? No amount is too small.