Henrico family moving into Habitat home in Highland Springs
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A local mother and her family will have a new home of their own, thanks to Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity and the Wells Fargo Foundation.
The foundation awarded Habitat for Humanity a $15,000 grant to build an affordable home in Highland Springs for Bianca Robinson and her family. It is part of the foundation’s $8.1 million donation to Habitat for Humanity International that is being used to build, renovate and repair more than 350 affordable homes nationwide. It’s part of the Wells Fargo Foundation’s $1 billion philanthropic commitment to create more housing affordability solutions by 2025.
As a part of her pre-purchase program requirements, Robinson completed 10 financial and homeownership education classes, monthly one-on-one budgeting sessions, and 350 hours of “sweat equity” helping to build her home and the homes of other future homeowners.
When asked what owning her own home will mean to her and her three children, Bianca responded, “More space, our own privacy, a place to call ours, stability.”
Wells Fargo Builds provides philanthropic financial assistance from the Wells Fargo Foundation to support the construction, renovation, painting or repairing of homes with low-to-moderate income households. In 2019 alone, Wells Fargo employees volunteered more than 1.9 million hours of service to strengthen their communities, including building, repairing, and improving 674 homes across the U.S. with several organizations through Wells Fargo Builds.
“We are so grateful for Wells Fargo’s support and their commitment towards making safe and affordable housing a priority here in the Richmond Metropolitan area and across the country,” said Mary Kay Huss, CEO of Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity. “Our partnership is not only helping a local family achieve their dream of homeownership, it is providing that family with the security and stability that affordable homeownership provides.”
“We’ve had a rich history of working with Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity to strengthen our neighborhoods through philanthropy and volunteerism,” said Wells Fargo Region Bank President Janet Tope. “Safe and stable housing enables people to build upon the rest of their life and, together, we can shift the narrative to help others understand that housing affordability is both an economic and humanitarian crisis that’s taking a toll on millions of people.”
