Walking through the frame of what will be his next home in Atlanta, Ozzy Herrera said the experience made the future feel real. Herrera, 27, works two jobs at Atlanta’s airport and told The Associated Press that buying a home at his age never seemed possible. “It’s special. It’s magical,” he said.

Habitat for Humanity’s next step for Herrera and other qualifying families will come during May, when nearly 1,000 volunteers will finish Herrera’s new home and 23 other affordable housing units in the Sylvan Hills neighborhood for the 40th Carter Work Project. The nonprofit said the weeklong building sessions are named after former President Jimmy Carter and his late wife Rosalynn, whose involvement helped launch the program in the 1980s. Habitat for Humanity said the intensive builds have constructed roughly 5,000 homes in 14 countries since 1984, and that the project is returning to Atlanta for the first time since 1988.

The Atlanta project also reflects a broader shift in how Habitat operates, with the organization moving further into community development and real estate. Habitat for Humanity CEO Jonathan Reckford said that “The gap between what a family can afford and what it costs to create that unit of housing is the widest it has been in modern history.” Reckford said Habitat plans to serve as a developer on more of its projects because many smaller developers have not recovered from losses tied to the COVID-19 pandemic or have closed.

In Sylvan Hills, Habitat said it is building Langston Park on 8 acres (3 hectares) of land the organization purchased in 2015. Habitat said it also worked to get the site rezoned for residential use after it previously housed a saw-blade manufacturer. The organization said the 24 homes will include a mix of single-family homes and townhomes, and that the project will be the first time Habitat’s Atlanta affiliate will build multifamily townhomes.

Rosalyn Merrick, president and CEO of Atlanta Habitat for Humanity, said the effort is aimed at making use of land the organization can acquire. “We do believe it’s important to get the best use out of every precious piece of land that we’re able to acquire and come by so that we can serve more families,” Merrick said. Habitat said the homes in Langston Park will cost about $200,000 each to build, and that the eventual homeowners will make a monthly mortgage based on their income without being charged interest. Habitat also said the Langston Park work is intended to allow it to build 40 more homes on the site over time.

Herrera and other families are among those who said rising housing costs have strained household budgets. Phileena Daniel, 27, said she qualified for one of the Langston Park homes after struggling with housing over the past two years, including living in a unit she described as infested with rats and roaches. Daniel said stable housing would help her and her 7-year-old son, adding, “You know, sometimes we don’t see ourselves going far in life as young Black women in this society,” and that the project is “giving us an opportunity to expand.”

Outside of Habitat, an urban economics professor said the model is consistent with the nonprofit’s mission while adjusting to the scale of the affordability problem. Vincent Reina, an urban economics and planning professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said Habitat’s move into community development is “a classic example of a nonprofit organization really trying to be responsive to community needs.” Reina said Habitat “can still be true to their core mission, which is advancing homeownership opportunities,” while also acknowledging “that we need a diverse set of housing solutions to really meet the needs of individuals.”

Reina and Benjamin J. Keys, a Wharton real estate and finance professor, are cited in the AP report for research that ties mortgage rates and home prices to shrinking eligibility for buyers outside a small set of expensive metro areas. The report said high home prices and 30-year mortgage interest rates above 7% have made it impossible for even moderate-income households to afford a home across most of the country’s 98 most expensive metro areas, citing their research published last year. FRED’s vintage value for the 30-year fixed mortgage rate on the article’s date was 6.3%, which underscores the borrowing-cost pressure facing buyers (Series: MORTGAGE30US).

The report also points to national policy debates over affordable housing. It said both the House and the Senate have passed different affordable housing bills and lawmakers are working to reconcile the differences to send a final version to President Donald Trump for approval. It added that Trump has signed executive orders to reduce housing regulatory burdens and help smaller banks provide mortgages, while his proposed 2027 budget would seek cuts to the Department of Housing and Urban Development and eliminate several community development programs that help cities build affordable housing.

Back in Atlanta, Herrera said he expects the housing payment to open up other plans. He said rising rents previously forced him to move and slowed his efforts to open a coffee shop. “Now, I can finally take some risks,” he said, describing how a stable monthly housing cost could also provide flexibility for his family if he needs to care for his parents, whose medical needs he said have shaped their living arrangements.

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