Advocating for Affordable Homeownership

Our advocacy efforts support policies that increase the supply of and promote broader access to safe, affordable and decent homes. From our deep understanding of housing and its central role in providing opportunities for families, we work to reform laws in a non-confrontational, nonpartisan way. Advocating for sustainable and inclusive policies and systems that promote access to decent housing is critical to achieving our vision of a world where everyone has a decent place to live.

Pikes Peak Habitat's advocacy strategic goals are aligned with Habitat's U.S. National Policy Platform which provides a common direction for the entire Habitat network and outlines our collective public policy interests. This common platform establishes our core public policy themes and issues to address the U.S. housing needs at all levels of government.

Pikes Peak Habitat's advocacy goals are built around three pillars to promote affordable homeownership:

Increasing affordable homeownership supply.
Ensuring equitable homeownership access.
Improving homeownership resilience.

Join Habitat for Humanity by calling on your policymakers to invest in affordable homeownership now.

A record shortage of starter homes across the U.S. is driving up housing costs — causing many families to face extremely difficult choices between housing and other basic needs — and pushing the dream of homeownership out of reach for hard-working families and first-time homebuyers nationwide. No investment is as beneficial as homeownership for wealth building. Please join Habitat for Humanity in ensuring everyone has an affordable place to call home by adding your voice and asking your friends and family to do the same.

Damian cuts the ribbon on his family's new home

Current Asks of Our Legislators

Finalize the fiscal year 2025 appropriations process as soon as possible, providing robust funding for vital housing and community development programs.

Support the following programs in the FY2026 budget:
- Department of Housing and Urban Development (T-HUD bill):
  - Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program
  - HOME Investment Partnerships Program
- Department of Agriculture (Ag-Rural Development bill):
  - USDA Section 502 Direct Loan Program

2. Support the Homeownership Supply Accelerator, Habitat’s innovative federal policy concept to make homeownership a reality for hard-working families nationwide. As envisioned, the accelerator would be a new source of financial assistance to spur the construction of starter homes across the U.S.

3. Ensure that any tax package includes provisions that increase the supply of starter homes and protects the tax status of nonprofit housing providers.

How Do We Advocate?

Habitat on the Hill

Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity participates in Habitat on the Hill, Habitat for Humanity's annual legislative conference in Washington, D.C.

In February 2025, Karla Probert, executive assistant to the CEO/affiliate advocacy ambassador, joined 475 other Habitat representatives, who visited 300 legislators -- including Colorado Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper, as well as Congressman Crank -- to ask them to support policies that promote affordable homeownership.

Karla also presented a poster about our 2024 interfaith dialogue, "Who Is Your Neighbor?," which featured officials from the City of Colorado Springs. See the poster (PDF).

She also shared a flyer about our work with veterans (PDF).

The Colorado contingent at Habitat on the Hill, 2025

Colorado Springs Mayoral Candidate Forum

On Affordable Homeownership

On Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity and KRDO NewsRadio hosted a forum for the 12 Colorado Springs mayoral candidates to discuss their ideas and answer questions about affordable homeownership.

Proposition 123

Pikes Peak Habitat joined other Colorado Habitat affiliates in supporting Proposition 123, a ballot measure approved by Colorado voters in November 2022. This initiative allocates one-tenth of 1% of state income tax revenue to fund affordable housing. At a conservative estimate, Pikes Peak Habitat will double the number of homes we build and repair in El Paso County each year because of Prop 123.

Cost of Home: Five Years of Impact

The Cost of Home campaign has been a cornerstone of Habitat for Humanity's advocacy efforts, addressing the housing affordability crisis across the U.S. In Colorado, where housing costs have soared, this campaign has played a pivotal role in shaping policies that directly impact families in need of affordable homeownership. By working with local and state leaders, we've made strides in increasing housing availability, addressing financial barriers, and advocating for equitable housing solutions. These efforts have improved housing affordability for thousands of Coloradans, helping families build stronger, more secure futures.

To learn more, explore the full Cost of Home Cumulative Report.

The Cost of Home campaign helped unlock $23.6 billion in government funding to help people access affordable homes.

Habitat Voices in Action: A path to greater impact on housing. Habitat advocates with sustained commitment to create policy and system changes for greater impact.

Voices in Action: Amplifying Our Advocacy

As we look toward the future and building on the success of the Cost of Home campaign, Habitat for Humanity is uniting its advocacy efforts under the banner of Voices in Action. This initiative strengthens our ability to influence housing policy, particularly here in El Paso County, where housing affordability is one of the most pressing challenges facing families today. Through Voices in Action, we are increasing our capacity to work with lawmakers and community leaders at the local, state, and federal levels to push for policies that ensure more families can achieve affordable homeownership.

By advocating for systemic changes that directly impact housing affordability, Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity in tandem with Habitat for Humanity Colorado remains at the forefront of impactful change in our state, helping families build the stability and security that come with homeownership. After all, homeownership IS affordable housing.

Learn more about Habitat's advocacy work and how we're driving change through Voices in Action here.

Learn More

Why Home Matters

Through a series of evidence briefs, Habitat is sharing research on the impact that affordable housing has on individuals and families in the U.S. and beyond.