How Habitat for Humanity Became Housing Juggernaut

Tara Morgan had been living with her daughter in a dreary one-bedroom duplex she rented in Nashville until former President Jimmy Carter helped provide her a life-changing opportunity: to own a new yellow cottage with airy interiors that she could afford under favorable financing terms.

- ARIAN CAMPO-FLORES

The home, constructed in 2019 by Habitat for Humanity International with volunteers including Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter, was the last "Carter house" ever built.

"I am who I am today because I have this home," said Morgan, 36 years old.

Four years after losing reelection in 1980, Carter agreed to get involved with Habitat, which was then an obscure Christian nonprofit focused on building affordable homes. That kicked off a collaboration that became one of his enduring legacies: helping transform the organization into a juggernaut that operates across the U.S. and around the world and has helped millions of people improve their living conditions.

For more than 35 years, the Carters themselves worked alongside more than 104,000 volunteers in 14 countries to build, renovate and repair nearly 4,400 homes. They raised funds for Habitat, connected its leaders with officials around the globe and helped catapult its growth and expand its scope to advocacy and other work.

"He and Mrs. Carter put it on the map," said Jonathan Reckford, Habitat's chief executive. "It was such an inflection point for Habitat."

Jimmy Carter died Sunday at 100 years old. Rosalynn Carter died at 96 in November 2023.

Habitat was founded in 1976, the same year Jimmy Carter defeated Republican President Gerald Ford. Five years later, after Carter had lost his re-election bid, Habitat built 342 homes, according to the organization.