On Thursday, March 26 from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., Hilton Grand Vacations, Habitat for Humanity Greater Orlando, and Osceola County partnered for the 16th annual Women Build for Housing Development in the Orlando community.
This event was meant to build, invest in, and advocate for a safe environment and affordable homes for women and their families. This program was sponsored by HGV’s Women’s Team Member Resource Group where they assisted in securing and building walls for a new home in Holden Heights.
Founded in 1986, Habitat Orlando and Osceola has built, rehabilitated, or repaired over 900 homes in Central Florida. Through repairs, home builds, housing counseling, and financial education classes. Habitat Orlando and Osceola help more than 2,000 people each year and was acknowledged as one of the 40 “top producers” out of 900 Habitat for Humanity International affiliates working in communities around the world.
This program helps to eliminate the stress that comes along with looking for a house while giving financial stability to women and their families with a starter home.
Protecting Women in the Community
Giving women the opportunity to support themselves through this program is essential to successfully thrive with being a homeowner and taking care of their families.
“Being a woman is pretty fantastic because you get to experience so many things and get to be fierce, followable, and get to see the world through a lens of women that came before you,” said Catherine McManus, President and CEO of Habitat Orlando and Osceola County. “You get to learn what came before us and hope that future generations can stand on my shoulders to achieve what they would like to achieve.”
As Mother’s Day is coming up, many of these female homeowners have young children who they want to teach the responsibility of financial stability in this day and age
“I think right now one of the biggest issues surrounding affordable housing prices is the cost of housing, and the lack of entry level housing,” said McManus. “We have a lot of housing that is very expensive and if you make a lot of money you’re not really worried, but there isn’t a lot of entry level housing, and that is what Habitat builds. There’s so much that goes into what has created the housing prices and what Habitat is trying to do through all of our programs is to address this holistically. We have financial literacy, home maintenance classes, educational curriculum, and just trying to help people in their housing journey to make sure everyone is home ready.”
Hannah Vazzana, Chief Brand and Communication Officer for Hilton Grand Vacations, said that being able to work alongside other women has helped her become a better role model for her kids and herself.
“I think being a woman means so many things and for me it means being a business executive, a leader, and I’m also a mom and auntie,” said Vazzana. “I hope that I am someone that makes a difference in the community and shows that I care about the people in Central Florida.”
The program isn’t just about building homes, it’s about connecting different people in the community to raise awareness about the struggles of finances and home ownership in Central Florida.
“Habitat does more than just building homes, they have all sorts of programs that help support people with financial literacy and free homeowner ships such as helping to plan and learn to get in a financial place where you can be a part of homeownership,” said Vazzana. “If you’re already a homeowner and struggling to keep up with expenses, it’s an overall umbrella organization that can help people to be more financially stable and doing so much more for the community.”
Habitat for Humanity Greater Orlando teaches the younger generation the best way to save money and the importance of financial security for unexpected energies.
“I think women spreading the word and talking about these programs like this shows you can go through a Habitat financial literacy program and doesn’t necessarily mean you’re trying to buy a home,” said Vazzana. “Maybe you’re young, just out of school and you’re in your first job and want to better understand finances because these are the steps you take when you’re younger to put you on the path to success.”
As a mother, Helmes said that she wants her kids to have someone to look up to and to have somewhere safe and secure to sleep at night without worrying about their financial situation.
“This program helps with family structure because when you become a homeowner, it gives you a sense of pride and dignity,” said Helmes. “Especially if you’re a mother, you want to be able to show that to your children and present to them the same set of dignity they can have to show they can understand the importance of homeownership. Sometimes we think we know all the answers and we really don’t, so we need to be able to reach out to any resource we can and allow them to walk us through the process of the end goal we have in mind.”
This collaboration marked the growing efforts to raise awareness about the housing crisis in Central Florida.
For more information on Habitat for Humanity Greater Orlando and Osceola County, visit HERE.