Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity (TCHFH) brings people together to create, preserve, and promote affordable homeownership and advance racial equity in housing. The current program builds 35 new homes and rehabilitates 15 homes each year, and then sells those homes to low-income clients at an affordable rate. TCHFH aims to increase access to affordable and safe housing for families with an income between 30% and 80% of the median income. 
 

Study Goals:
The goal of the study was to make meaningful comparisons between families matched with a home by TCHFH and those who are not yet matched by the organization. The evaluation adopted a QED approach in which 49 families acquiring a home through TCHFH were matched with 49 similar families that qualified for TCHFH support but had not yet closed on a home. Through this comparison, TCHFH hopes to discover if houses built/renovated by TCHFH can have a positive impact on low-income families by lowering their person-per-bedroom ratio and raising their level of home satisfaction.
 

Research Questions:
The research questions were:

  • To what extent do families matched with a TCHFH home have a lower person-per-bedroom (PPB) rate relative to similar families who have not been matched with a home?
  • To what extent does the probability of meeting federal guidelines for PPB differ between families matched with a TCHFH home and those still awaiting a match?
  • Relative to a matched comparison group, to what extent do families matched with a TCHFH home report higher feelings of overall home satisfaction as measured by general satisfaction, safety, and housing issues?
     

Findings:
The evaluation found that: 

  • The results provide consistent and strong evidence that TCHFH helps to decrease PPB ratios and increase housing satisfaction. 
  • A Logical Regression Model was completed showing the influence of the intervention (housing provided by TCHFH) that suggested that working with TCHFH correlated with: 
    • Statistically significant (p<.05) decreases in PPB ratios (decrease of 0.68) 
    • Higher home satisfaction 
  • These effects are meaningful, in particular for PPB, which has been shown to be highly correlated with quality-of-life metrics. 
  • TCHFH home placement was associated with a 0.68 decrease in the PPB ratio and a 21% point21%-point increase in the probability of meeting the PPB ratio benchmark.

For more information, download: 
Full Report
 

Full report

Further information

Program/Intervention
MN Habitat for Humanity AmeriCorps Program
Implementing Organization
Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, Inc.
Intermediary(s)

SERVEMinnesota

AmeriCorps Program(s)
AmeriCorps State and National
Age(s) Studied
0-5 (Early childhood)
6-12 (Childhood)
13-17 (Adolescent)
18-25 (Young adult)
26-55 (Adult)
55+ (Older adult)
Outcome Category
Housing
Study Design(s)
Quasi-experimental (QED)
Level of Evidence
Moderate
Researcher/Evaluator
Nelson, Kaiser (Center for Advancing Research to Practice at ServeMinnesota)
Published Year
2020
Study Site Location (State)
Montana