Habitat for Humanity Introduces Foreclosure Acquisition Program; Partners With the...

Habitat for Humanity Introduces Foreclosure Acquisition Program; Partners With
the City of Menlo Park to Revitalize Neighborhoods

Offers beacon of hope in the foreclosure crisis with combined initial
investment of $1.0 million with the city for the first five homes

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Habitat for Humanity
Greater San Francisco today announced it has begun acquiring bank-owned homes
as part of its new Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP) -- the first of
its kind in the San Francisco Bay Area. Habitat has committed $500,000 to
launch the program, which will enable new affordable homeownership
opportunities for local working families following rehabilitation of the homes
by Habitat.

Habitat Greater San Francisco has also entered into a groundbreaking new
partnership with the city of Menlo Park, which is investing an additional
$500,000 in the program. With this combined initial investment of $1.0
million, Habitat plans to acquire and rehabilitate five vacant bank-owned
properties in the Belle Haven neighborhood of Menlo Park, with a possible
program expansion following the initial pilot phase. Habitat made the
announcement at the site of the first home under the program in Menlo Park.
Habitat hopes to expand the program to other areas hard-hit by the foreclosure
crisis.

"I have seen first-hand the impact of foreclosures on Menlo Park and know that
we must take immediate action to address the problem," said Heyward Robinson,
Mayor of Menlo Park. "I'm grateful that we have a community that is willing to
step up and address this challenge when the federal and state governments
couldn't. I am very hopeful that the combined efforts of Habitat for Humanity
Greater San Francisco and the City of Menlo Park will prove successful and
become a blueprint for other communities attempting to cope with the
foreclosure crisis."

Over the past year, foreclosure signs have become an all too common sight in
the Bay Area and around the country. The crisis has caused families to be
displaced and, in some cases, to leave their communities for good. Yet San
Mateo County has maintained a relatively low foreclosure rate. At less than
one percent, the county's foreclosure rate has actually obscured the magnitude
of the problem in places like the Belle Haven neighborhood of Menlo Park and
other areas like it where foreclosure rates are four to six times higher than
that of other communities.

Communities, through no fault of their own, are hard-pressed to deal with the
growing glut of homes that are standing vacant, in many cases blighted, and
having a devastating effect on their local neighborhoods. Unlike other
communities in the Bay Area and across the country, San Mateo County was
ineligible for federal neighborhood stabilization funds, leaving communities
like Menlo Park that are facing growing instability in their housing markets
to come up with a workable solution on their own without federal assistance.
The Neighborhood Revitalization Program represents a unique public/private
initiative drawing support from many sectors of the community to help
revitalize local neighborhoods destabilized by the crisis. Utilizing the work
of noted architecture firm, Saida + Sullivan, the visual impact of the
rehabilitation will transform a neglected property into a beacon of community
hope.

Families selected for the new program will help with the reconstruction and
refurbishment of the homes as part of the standard sweat equity requirement of
the Habitat program. They will also have access to the same terms of Habitat's
homeownership program, including no down payment and a zero-interest mortgage,
to purchase their homes. They will undergo significant homeownership education
and training, just as all Habitat families do, helping to keep Habitat's
foreclosure rate at less than one percent locally and around the country.

The Neighborhood Revitalization Program is an extension to Habitat Greater San
Francisco's traditional model of new home construction. As part of the
organization's "Hope Begins at Home" campaign, Habitat Greater San Francisco
has set a goal of building 100 new homes in five years. With the NRP program,
Habitat Greater San Francisco hopes to acquire and rehabilitate at least 15
additional homes over the next two years to help put local neighborhoods that
are at risk of decline on the path to recovery. Habitat plans to establish
more partnerships in the community to bring in additional funding sources, and
is especially eager to see banks and lending institutions step up. Banks
looking to remove "toxic assets" from the mortgage crisis off their books will
find a partnership with Habitat Greater San Francisco to be an ideal solution
-- creating responsible and affordable homeownership opportunities for local
working families.

About Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco
Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco is an affiliate of Habitat for
Humanity International that partners with working families and the community
to build affordable ownership homes in Marin, San Francisco and the Peninsula.
Formed through the merger of Peninsula Habitat for Humanity and Habitat for
Humanity San Francisco in August 2008, Habitat for Humanity Greater San
Francisco provides a unique solution to the local housing crisis and has
enabled nearly 150 families to purchase affordable housing since 1989. For
additional information about Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco, go
to: www.habitatgsf.org.

SOURCE Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco

Jennifer Doettling, Communications Director of Habitat for Humanity Greater
San Francisco, +1-650-568-7335, jdoettling@habitatgsf.org