Clark Howard, a popular consumer expert and podcast host of The Clark Howard Show, first heard of Atlanta Habitat in 1994. As a nationally syndicated radio host since 1989, teaching consumers ways to “save more, spend less, and avoid rip-offs,” affordable housing was right up his alley, but his connection to the cause ran much deeper.
Howard’s father grew up in New York City during the Great Depression and had come home from school two different times to find all the family’s belongings on the street corner with an eviction notice because they could no longer afford the rent.
Although his father eventually moved to Atlanta and lived a comfortable life, this experience stuck with him.
In the winter of 1984, six homeless people froze to death in Atlanta. Howard recalls his father’s outrage as the reason he founded Temple Zaban Night Shelter in their synagogue that year.
Although Howard loved the idea of providing a safe, warm place for people to stay, he was interested in a more long-term solution.
Roughly 10 years after the shelter was founded, Howard learned the story of Habitat for Humanity. He learned about community volunteers coming together to build alongside a future homeowner for a low price, like the 1800s Midwestern barn-raising tradition.
He was immediately sold on Habitat, so he and his wife began saving money. Clark donated all his speaking fees for the next two years to fund his first home in 1996 for Ms. Tinnie Prather.
“You know, one of the greatest things you can do is create independence,” Clark stated. “And Habitat does that. One homeowner at a time. One family at a time. It is my favorite kind of charitable endeavor because the homeowners are buying these homes on sale because of their volunteer labor, and they will have a mortgage they pay every month. But it’s a great mortgage because it’s 0%.”
From there, Howard caught, what he calls, the building bug and has been back to build every year he was able.
Howard, being a hands-on guy, is a dedicated volunteer in addition to his sponsorship so he gathers a group of his listeners each winter to help two or three homeowners build their dream home.
“How do you bring people together?” Howard asked. “You do it with a common purpose that people can identify with. And this to me is such a perfect ‘common’ for us.”
Generally, a sponsor will provide volunteers from their company, religious group, or just some friends but Howard tries to always bring strangers together to form new relationships.
To date, Howard has built 81 Atlanta Habitat houses but has also built 15 additional homes in other cities like Phoenix, Arizona; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Joplin, Missouri; Valdosta, Georgia; and in a rural community in north Georgia.
The latter was a special case.
Howard heard about a soldier returning from one of the foreign wars, who, on his way back from his year away, got a phone call that his house had burned to the ground. The entirely volunteer-based Habitat affiliate gathered the materials and manpower to “build that soldier a home.”
“In a time that life feels so complicated, it’s actually simpler than we think,” Howard said. “We can come together as a community and make a difference.”
Recently, Howard completed house 96 in Atlanta and plans to travel to Tulsa to build two more. Next year, he plans to build homes 99 and 100 here in his hometown.
“It’s so hard when you donate money to an organization, or volunteer somewhere, to see the actual tangible result,” Howard said. “But when you’re involved with Habitat, you see how it creates this sense of achievement, this independence, and also this sense of permanence for the children, grandchildren and that family.”
