The Houses the Senate Built
Winter 2001
The Houses the Senate Built is a partnership project between the United States Senate and Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI). Its goal is to strengthen neighborhoods and communities by bringing U.S. Senators together with local Habitat affiliates, volunteers and sponsors to build Habitat homes with families in need in every state.
On June 9, 2000, the U.S. Senate established this project by unanimously passing Senate Resolution 319. By signing this resolution, each Senator has pledged to work with a local Habitat affiliate to build at least one Habitat house in his or her home state by the end of 2001. The resolution was introduced by the project's original six co-sponsors: Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS), Bob Graham (D-FL), Wayne Allard (R-CO), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), John Ashcroft (R-MO) and Kent Conrad (D-ND).
Groundbreaking for the project's first phase, the U.S. Senators Build, took place on Wednesday, September 27, 2000, in Capitol Heights, Maryland. The U.S. Senators Build will bring together the entire Senate on March 7, 2001, to build and raise the walls of the project's first two houses. Continuing throughout the spring, Senate spouses, family members and staff will join the homeowner families, project sponsors and volunteers to complete the houses. Following the dedication of these two houses in honor of National Homeownership Week 2001 (the first week in June), Senators will return to their respective states to build a Habitat house with a local affiliate.
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Council of Federal Home Loan Banks, the National Association of Home Builders, the National Association of REALTORS and the Mortgage Bankers Association of America have joined the Senate and HFHI as "building partner" sponsors of the project. The Mortgage Insurance Companies of America, The Corporation for National Service, the Enterprise Foundation, the American Bankers Association and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have also joined the project as sponsors.
Blueprint, the Houses the Senate Built newsletter from Habitat for Humanity International, is now available online as a PDF file, which can be read or printed with Adobe's free Acrobat Reader software.
