Habitat For Humanity of Sonoma County, by Jacqui Salyer, Director of Fund Development
Our speaker for March 16, 2023, was Jacqui Salyer, Director of Fund Development for Habitat for Humanity of Sonoma County. Jacqui started at Habitat in June 2018. Prior to Habitat, Jacqui had experience in management and customer service. She is a member of the management team and recently spearheaded the Aging in Place Critical Home Repair and Neighborhood Revitalization Program.
Habitat for Humanity started in Sonoma County in 1984. Habitat Sonoma County is under the umbrella of Habitat International, which has 41 affiliates in California. Habitat’s mission is to bring people together to build homes, communities, and hope. Habitat’s vision is for every person to have a simple, decent, and safe place to live. Habitat is now focusing on rehabilitating homes due to the expense of building new homes.
Habitat has had significant achievements between 2020 and 2022. It built 2 affordable homes in Cotati, provided 46 critical home repairs for low-income seniors or people with disabilities, and performed 2 neighborhood revitalization projects helping 33 families; 22 in Rohnert Park and 11 in Santa Rosa. The revitalization work include landscaping, painting, junk removal, and gutter repairs, etc. Habitat is now working on a “Rock the Block” project, which is much like revitalization but includes interior repairs. Habitat ReStore has recorded major increases in sales and profits. ReStore now has a 28,000 square feet facility. People donate new and gently used items, such antiques, furniture, appliances, cabinets, doors, windows, flooring, plumbing, tools, garden, paint, and lighting, among other things. ReStore’s profits go towards some of Habitat’s other programs.
For new home construction they typically receive donated land and partner with Sonoma Land Trust. They received over 400 applications for the two new homes in Cotati. People seeking to have a new Habitat home have to be qualified and show specific needs. They also need to commit to 500 sweat equity hours to help build the homes. Over 14 corporations came out and helped them build these homes.
The need for housing in Sonoma County is acute. We need 20,000 new housing units. 8% of our workforce lives outside the county. They estimate that there are 10,000 people with severe housing needs. Habitat is working to help people like retail clerks, health care professionals, winery workers, construction workers, teachers, transportation workers, bookkeepers, childcare workers, and other people with moderate incomes because they cannot afford a home in Sonoma County’s current environment.
Habitat also has some new ongoing projects, including the construction of 4 townhomes in Sebastopol across the street from the Safeway. These homes will be 2-3 bedrooms and 1,350 square feet. They are also working on a project for 15 homes in Windsor.
Many thanks to Jacqui for the enlightening presentation about a wonderful Sonoma County organization. And thank you for all you do for our county!
Click HERE to view the recording of Jacqui's informative talk. It will be available for a limited time.
