Advocacy
Raise your voice to raise walls. Together, we build good housing policy.
Building Alone Won’t Solve Our Housing Challenges
Building homes changes lives — but we can’t hammer our way out of a housing crisis that affects millions of families across New York and the nation.
We need sensible policies at the local, state, and federal levels that encourage affordable housing development and remove barriers to construction. That means fighting for zoning reform, increasing funding for affordable housing programs, expanding access to credit for low-to-moderate income families, and preserving the affordable homes that already exist.
When you advocate on behalf of Habitat, you lend your voice to a movement that will create smart housing policy and a system that lets us bring homeownership within reach of more people. We use our years of experience in the affordable housing space to guide our thoughtful, comprehensive, and forward-looking approach to advocacy.
By advocating on behalf of Habitat, you join your voice to a movement that can make affordable housing a reality for more families in Tompkins and Cortland Counties and beyond.
What We’re Advocating For
Our policy priorities are grounded in decades of experience building and preserving affordable homes across New York.
Increased Supply of Affordable Homes
We advocate for policies that expand the availability of homes for low- and moderate-income homebuyers, funding programs and preservation of affordable housing, optimizing land use, and removing barriers to affordable housing development. Habitat supports reforms that let us build more homes where families need them most.
Increase Access to Credit
We advocate for policies that expand access to credit for aging homeowners and those with disabilities, ensure mortgage underwriting and credit scoring are fair, give access to financial services, and reduce predatory lending practices. Everyone deserves a fair shot at building financial independence through homeownership.
Optimize Land Use for Affordable Homes
We advocate for policies that incentivize the transfer of homes for low- and moderate-income homebuyers, expand access to homeownership for people of all backgrounds, keep homes affordable and lessen tax, ensure proper property tax relief for aging homeowners and homeowners with disabilities, and support that homes remain decent.
Find Your Representative
Your elected officials need to hear from you. Let them know you support funding for affordable housing programs, zoning reform that removes barriers to construction, and policies that expand access to homeownership for all families.
Advocate to eliminate barriers to adequate and affordable housing.
Learn more about Habitat for Humanity International’s advocacy efforts, and how you can use your voice to support affordable housing policy. Together, we can promote sustainable and inclusive policy solutions, and you can take action to help influence important housing policies and systems.