Twin Cities Habitat Celebrates 40th Anniversary

This April marks Twin Cities Habitat’s 40^th Anniversary as an affiliate! In the last 40 years, more than 2,000 Twin Cities families have achieved homeownership with Habitat, which means more than 10,000 adults and children have experienced the benefits and the transformational power that comes with it.

Put yourselves in the shoes of our founders back in 1985. A group of passionate volunteers met in church basements and pooled their resources to buy and renovate the first Habitat home for a local homebuyer named Lily. The renovation took almost a full year before Lily and her children could move in. After they did, volunteers began working on the next house. And the next and the next. 

We looked through old issues of our quarterly newsletter The Herald and found many interesting tidbits about the history of Twin Cities Habitat. For one, the organization did not start out as a new construction organization. As a 1991 Herald states:

"For most of its five years, Twin Cities Habitat has primarily rehabilitated older, vacant homes in its effort to create homes which low-income families can purchase. Occasionally there has been some new construction, but it has been rare."

This blurb came as part of an announcement of a new building adventure at Lyton Park Place in St. Paul’s North End. "Along with Justin properties, TCHFH will erect 21 new homes to replace 48 cracker-box houses originally built for railroad workers."

Since the early days, we’ve grown into one of the largest, most productive, most innovative Habitat affiliates in the nation. And we’ve transformed along the way to best meet the needs of our community. Take a look back at some of our key milestones.

Key Milestones

• In 1993, Twin Cities Habitat launched its Mortgage Foreclosure Prevention Program (MFPP) to help families who are facing hardship keeping their homes. 

• In the summer of 1995, Habitat for Humanity International completed its 40,000^th house, and that house was built in the Twin Cities!
  
  
• In 1998, we created the A Brush with Kindness program to help existing homeowners with critical paint and repair projects. The program was started right here in the Twin Cities, and has spread to hundreds of Habitat affiliates across the country. In 2008, A Brush With Kindness celebrated its 10th anniversary and its 1,000th home served!

• During the 2005-2006 construction season, Twin Cities Habitat was the second largest builder of Energy Star-certified homes in Minnesota. In fact, we were one of the first builders in the state to become an Energy Star partner.

• In 2008, construction began on the first LEED-certified Twin Cities Habitat home.

• We opened our first ReStore home improvement outlet in Minneapolis in 2006. The location moved to its current location in New Brighton in 2009.
  
  

• 2010 marked the first year of Habitat on the Hill, our statewide day of advocacy at the Minnesota Capitol. "These days it’s so difficult for hard-working, low-income families to own a home," said then-State Senator John Marty. "Habitat for Humanity makes this a reality and provides a plan for success."

• Another key event of 2010 was hosting the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project. The Carters visited the Twin Cities that fall. 

• We opened our second ReStore location in Minneapolis in 2016.
  
  

• In 2017, Twin Cities Habitat transformed how we provide mortgages, creating a pathway for families to buy homes on the open real estate market. Our partnership with Bremer Bank made this possible and has inspired similar banking relationships for other Habitat affiliates.

• We piloted an innovative new special purpose credit program in 2022 to better serve our Foundational Black homebuyers. Within just a few years, we've seen impactful results.
  
  

• We hosted the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project for the second time in 2024, this time kicking off the construction of our largest-ever development at The Heights on St. Paul’s Greater East Side.

  
  

• In March 2025, Audra closed on her Habitat home, pushing us across a huge milestone of 2,000 new homeowner households served.

• Coming late-summer 2025, we will open our third ReStore location in Brooklyn Park.

The scale of work we’re able to accomplish now compared to the early days is staggering. Consider this: it took us almost 10 years to help the first 100 local families become Habitat homeowners; last year, we helped 100 families in fewer than 10 months!

Over the years, we’ve transformed how we build: investing in sustainability, adding multi-family housing options in addition to single-family homes, and seeking opportunities across the metro area. While we stay rooted in our core mission, we’re not afraid to transform to meet the changing needs of our community. 

It's hard to image where Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity will be 40 years from now, when we celebrate our 80th anniversary. How many Habitat homeowners will there be? Another 2,000? 4,000? Maybe even 10,000? Join us for the ride as we build forward together for another 40 years of service and impact.