Mission
Habitat for Humanity’s mission is to build strength, stability and self-reliance through shelter. To achieve this, families and individuals partner with Habitat to build or improve a place they can call home. No matter who we are or where we come from, we all deserve to have a decent life. We deserve to feel strength and stability day after day. Everyone deserves to know we have the power to take care of ourselves and build our own futures. At Habitat for Humanity, this is what unites us. Through shelter, we empower. Our shared vision is a world where everyone has a decent place to live. Because you, me, we — we’re all humans. And every single one of us deserves the opportunity for a better future. Habitat is founded on Christian principles that seeks to put God’s love into action by building homes, communities and hope. Habitat for Humanity of Southwest Montana is your local effort of a global, nonprofit housing organization.
We cover Butte-Silver Bow, Jefferson, Beaverhead, Madison, Powell, and Deer Lodge Counties in Southwest Montana. Habitat is dedicated to eliminating substandard housing locally through constructing, rehabilitating and preserving homes; by advocating for fair and just housing policies; and by providing training and access to resources to help families improve their shelter conditions. We were founded on the conviction that every man, woman and child should have a simple, durable place to live in dignity and safety, and that decent shelter in decent communities should be a matter of conscience and action for all. Habitat for Humanity will not proselytize nor work with entities or individuals who insist on proselytizing as part of their work with Habitat. This means that we will not offer assistance on the expressed or implied condition that people must adhere to or convert to a particular faith or listen and respond to messaging designed to induce conversion to a particular faith.
History
Milestones for Habitat for Humanity of Southwest Montana
March 17, 1993 – Habitat for Humanity SWMT is incorporated.
1994 – Outreach to Central Butte Neighborhood residents. Land in neighborhood donated for first home.
1995 – Banks in Butte join forces to sponsor the first home for a family of six, construction begins.
1995 – Diocese of Helena donates land for seven homes.
1996 – Americorps Vista approves two full-time Corps members for a year for the affiliate. Neighborhood revitalization of the 67-block Central Butte Neighborhood launched a 10-year building effort to invest in the neighborhood.
Valentines Day 1997 – First home dedicated. Three more partner families selected for next homes, each with a disabled parent and school-age children
1998 – Three homes under construction, and two more started on Nevada Street. Sponsors include Butte’s medical community and St. James, KXLF TV and Oprah Winfrey, and Montana Power (Now Northwestern Energy).
2000 – New sponsors take on three more homes – Butte School Dist. And Teachers, the Catholic Community and Churches of Butte. Butte Silver Bow pledges in-fill land for building sites.
2000-2003 – Habitat helps co-found the Imagine Butte Collaborative with 16 other nonprofits, government agencies and education organizations and launch the High Schools Neighborhoods to focus investment to a concentrated area of Main Street around Butte High School, and encourage investment to change the face of the neighborhood.
2004 – Imagine Butte Needs Assessment surveys Butte’s residents living in neighborhoods in need. Collaborative sets course based on survey results. Combined efforts of Imagine Butte and city-county agencies bring investments to infrastructure, for streets, storm drains, sidewalks and lighting.
2005 – Habitat creates a partnership with National Affordable Housing Network and the Mutual Self Help program to bring more financing options for very low income homeowners. This brings investment from US Department of Agriculture Rural Development (USDA RD) in the form of construction loans to partner families.
2006-2007 – Habitat dedicates five homes in the target area on Main Street. Habitat partners with two disabled veterans.
2008-2010 – We build homes in Dillon and Boulder. Habitat partners with local organizations serving disabled homeowners to build two condo projects serving 10 households. The projects permanently changed the potential for independent living for disabled home-buyers.
2011 – Habitat partners with Imagine Butte organizations to submit a successful application for Neighborhood Revitalization Program 3 funding, bringing $2.6 million to Butte’s most distressed areas.
2012 – 2015 – We joined with National Affordable Housing Network to build the region’s first solar subdivision in Whitehall. The Mountain Horizons neighborhood saw the first four homes completed in 2016. The homes are completely solar powered for all energy needs.
2016 – 2018 – Habitat partners with 15 new families. A much improved ReSale Warehouse store was opened at 821 S. Arizona.
2021 – Our Resale Warehouse was converted into an official Habitat Restore and relocated to 640 S Arizona.