At June 4th event at the Rotch-Jones-Duff House and Gardens, Buzzards Bay Area Habitat for Humanity (BBAHFH) celebrated the nonprofit’s 30th anniversary. During the event, longtime Executive Director Christine Lacourse said, “When the members of Saint Gabriel’s Church in Marion met all those years ago, they saw a need to help low-income families with housing. Who knew that thirty years later, the nonprofit they started would still be going strong! What a difference our local Habitat for Humanity affiliate has made in the region for the families we have served, including the 25 children who have lived in the homes our community built. We are so thankful for our volunteers and supporters who were instrumental in making this all happen!”
BBAHFH has identified New Bedford as the location of its next three home builds. In May 2025, BBAHFH purchased property in New Bedford and has been working with the City on the permitting approval process. Work on the site of the affiliate’s 14th home is anticipated to begin in the early Fall of 2026. The other two home builds will follow consecutively.
According to Josh Amaral, Director of Housing and Community Development in New Bedford, “For the last three years, we have been on a mission to develop houses in response to the housing shortage that has driven up rent and driven up home prices. As a core part of that strategy, we believe in the power of home ownership, building equity and having a place for raising your family, owning your little corner of the world and the positive benefits that it has for a whole neighborhood. You can drive down any street in New Bedford and pick out the houses that are owner-occupied. They are better taken care of and often have meticulous landscaped.
We are very excited that Habitat is building its first house in New Bedford, first of three houses in New Bedford. It is an anchor in that neighborhood, a developing neighborhood. It’s in an area that sorely needed more ownership and a high-quality design to uplift the whole area. It’s close to a train station; better transport options, and other complementary developments in the area. That is going to be a really great place to live. We are so glad that Habitat is partnering with us and I can’t wait to be at the ribbon cutting!”
According to Lacourse. “We will be starting the application process soon for those families interested in applying for a home. We are looking for low-income families who have the ability to pay a monthly mortgage estimated to be around $1,200 to $1,500 and can invest 300 hours of sweat equity into building their new home. Preference will be given to families that can fill all three bedrooms, with second preference to those that can fill two bedrooms. Interested families may visit www.BuzzardsBayHabitat.org/Homeownership for more information on how to qualify and apply for a Habitat home.”
Concurrently with the New Bedford home builds, BBAHFH will continue to provide metal wheelchair ramp installations. Since 2024, BBAHFH has loaned 53 ramps out to families in need of accessibility to their homes and worked with another 10 families on critical home repair projects. “Helping someone stay independent and safe in their home is very important, especially as so many of the recipients are elderly or disabled,” added Lacourse.
Over the past year, BBAHFH has collaborated with several other organizations and nonprofits in the South Coast including the local Councils on Aging, Veteran Service Officers, Coastal Neighbors Network, Westport Disability Commission, Association for the Relief of Aged Women (ARAW), Coastlines for the Elderly, SouthCoast Health, and a number of churches. BBAHFH has also worked on BWK projects with a number of local businesses including Travelers, BayCoast Bank, Thrivent, and Eastern Bank.
Volunteers are the key to BBAHFH’s ability to provide these programs to the community. All land, material, and monetary donations to Habitat are tax-deductible. For more information on how to donate or volunteer, visit www.BuzzardsBayHabitat.org, email BuzzardsBayHabitat@yahoo.com, or call 508-758-4517.