United Way of Broward County, our mission is to fight for the health education, financial
prosperity of every person in our community. Throughout the years, we saw such a shift of who
was actually coming and really asking for some assistance and for help, and they've never had
to do that before. Several years ago we decided let's really study this. We did a something called
the ALICE Report, and ALICE means, Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. These are families
and folks working super hard, doing all the right things but absolutely cannot get ahead and cannot
make their ends meet for no fault of their own. Over 50% of families in Broward County live in
what we call this ALICE threshold. Now 13% of those are in poverty, but the rest are in again,
not poverty. So there's not a lot of services and help, but they are in need. Something that
glaringly came out was housing and how folks and families are being priced out of rental
and home ownership at an astronomic rate. And of course, COVID, it really put a wrench in many,
many families and many folks here about their struggles. Affordable housing is considered
spending 30% or less on your housing. We have over 130,000 families that are spending 60% and more on
their housing costs. So that literally means that there's nothing left over. That's really where
Housing United was born from. Housing United is to create more affordable housing units for our
residents, especially ALICE, Broward County is just shy of need of 150,000 affordable units.
The idea of United Way stepping into the affordable housing solution process here was,
"Could we be that bridge?" Maybe for some developers, for some gap funding, for maybe
a project as close to being approved but needs extra dollars to be able to do that. Recently
we've given dollars to Habitat for Humanity, which is an amazing organization. It is home ownership
for families, often priced out of housing and not able to purchase and own their own home.
There is no greater economic empowerment than home ownership. It's what this country was built
on. And it's what habitat is built for. And it is providing hope for those hard working
residents in our area to provide a vehicle that works for home ownership. The uniqueness of the
habitat program is that the down payment is made through sweat equity. You're building your house,
you're building the homes of your neighbors and community is coming together. And it's volunteers,
it's business leaders, it's people from all walks of life that are coming together to make a dream
come true. We are not only the builder and the developer, but we also have programming and
education, and we are the mortgage lender. So for home ownership, which seems at times unreachable
in today's climate, the model holistically enables us to serve the core of working families that
would not have the opportunity for the American Dream otherwise. We partnered with Housing United
on a recent build that we did in call your city Pompano. And this build, it is a truly a story
of neighborhood revitalization, where it is ultimately a collaboration of both the city,
private industry, other nonprofits, and everybody pulling together. We have been building in this
city for decades. We've built hundreds of homes in this area. This particular city is one of the
most challenged zip codes in Florida. And what we're seeing is the tipping point of true change
and Housing United was a part of this project leaning in to help us with down payment assistance
that we so desperately needed to make these mortgages affordable. Everyone in our program
is a first time home buyer. Brings tears to my eyes just talking to you, thinking about
it. But typically they are the first in their family generationally to achieve home ownership.
So it really is breaking cycles. And it's an amazing thing to see at the end of the day.
I am grateful for United Way, and I am very blessed
for a habitat. They are helping so many families to making their dreams come true. I just feel so
secure and I could sleep well knowing that my family is safe and that's a very good feeling.
It's been proven over and over that if we as a community help the most vulnerable
and that those in need and add to the affordable housing stock here,
our residents have more money left over at the end. So they're going to shop in their community,
they're gonna open a bank account for the first time, they're gonna go buy a car,
they have more to spend in their local businesses. The entire community does better. To all of our
families who are struggling and who are feeling this affordability crunch, there is help coming,
there is strategy, there is lots of new projects in play going to be happening
in your communities. So we have you, we have your back, and we are committed to making a difference.