Advocacy at Habitat

Join us in advocating for affordable homeownership in the Greater Rochester area.

What is Advocacy?

Habitat for Humanity defines advocacy as changing policies and systems to eliminate barriers to adequate, affordable housing in order to create a world where everyone has a decent place to live.

In other words, while not visible like homes themselves, laws, regulations and rules about land and building are a major part of housing. Smart policies and systems can promote access to decent housing, while other policies and systems may create unnecessary barriers, making it harder than it needs to be to find land for construction, build the home itself or be able to afford a place to live. The essence of advocacy is not accepting shortcomings in current policy, but rather working to shape it in a way that supports people in need of adequate housing.

Why is Advocacy Important?

1 in 5 New York households spend half or more of their income on housing.

Cost-burdened families are suffering. To build out of the housing crisis, each of our Habitat affiliates in New York would have to build 1 house per day, 365 days a year, for over 50 years. The affordable housing problem requires a holistic approach. Unfortunately, building is not enough to solve the problem.

Advocacy is needed to help solve the problem because advocacy:

• Keeps the pressure on politicians to support affordable housing legislation.
• Changes community attitudes about families in need of affordable housing.

Why Cost of Home matters

Families all across the United States are paying too high a price to cover the cost of home.

At Habitat, we know that a family should never have to spend more than 30%  of their income on a home. Yet, 20.3 million households — nearly 1 in 6 — paid more than half their income on housing in 2021.

Everywhere you look — cities, suburbs, rural areas — the stability that home should bring remains out of reach for far too many families.

That is unacceptable.

We know the complexities that surround the cost of home. We also know the struggle, stress and pain of far too many families in our communities. Families who have suffered from redlining, racial inequality and the housing disparities that follow.

Families who have worked hard still come up short, not because of their own efforts, but because of systemic issues and an inequitable economy.

And we know that those with the fewest resources are always the ones who are forced to make the hardest choices. 



Everyone deserves to build the foundation for a stable, healthy future for themselves and their families — no matter who they are, where they live or how much money they earn. 

Through our five-year Cost of Home campaign, we are mobilizing our local and state Habitat organizations, our partners, our volunteers and community members across the country to find the solutions and help create the policies that will allow 10 million individuals to meet their most basic needs.