Thank you so much for your email! It’s great to hear directly from someone at Habitat.

I understand that the needs of those who are homeless and the guarantees needed for a Habitat home do not always coincide. When people can double up, keep their jobs, and keep working for their own home – that’s the best, but it’s not always possible. We need a whole spectrum of solutions for affordable housing.

I guess the tie-in with homelessness was more the idea of people doing something for others and looking at families in need in a positive way. What the students loved so much about Habitat was the community getting together in direct hands-on work. At the time, we talked about an “ethos of public life” and tried to figure out what this could mean.

This week we took a little break from regular readings and studied the film “Witness” and when the students saw the barn raising scene, where the Amish community built a barn for a newly married couple, they ALL thought again of Habitat for Humanity – not only of the great dream of home ownership so difficult in many countries but the spirit of community.

Thanks for your clarification and your notes will be in my program next time.

Judy