Habitat for Humanity International is a non-profit ecumenical organization whose goal is to eliminate poverty housing worldwide. Through its many affiliates located around the world, Habitat brings families and communities in need together with volunteers and resources to build decent, affordable housing.

Habitat for Humanity Campus Chapters and Youth Programs encourage students to make a positive difference in their communities. On their campuses, students help raise awareness about the need for affordable housing, raise funds for building Habitat homes, and build along side future Habitat homeowners at Habitat construction sites.

We're always looking for enthusiastic volunteers to come on board! Please use this site to learn more about us and how you can get involved.

Our History
Surprised to find that Berkeley was the only University of California undergraduate campus without a Habitat for Humanity Campus Chapter, four students initiated our commitment to Habitat for Humanity and its efforts to eliminate poverty housing worldwide in the Spring of 1999.

As a project for a service-learning class, they completed the steps that have allowed us to be recognized as an official campus chapter, including the adoption of our constitution. Since then, we've grown to over 50 members, and have been recognized with a Chancellor's Community Service Award. Our chapter hosts general meetings twice per month, and hosts workday activities almost every weekend. Want to join us? Check out our calendar to find out what we're up to in the coming weeks.

Affiliations On and Off Campus Cal Berkeley Habitat for Humanity is affiliated with several organizations on campus. We are officially recognized as a registered student group through the Office of Student Activities and Services, and as a Student-Initiated Community Service Project by the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC).

We are also sponsored by the Cal Corps Public Service Center. Without the advising services and the financial backing of these organizations, we would have a very difficult time accomplishing any of our short- or long-term goals.

Off campus we are partnered with our local Habitat affiliates East Bay Habitat for Humanity and Mount Diablo Habitat. They give us the opportunity to work at their construction sites throughout each semester. We also work closely with Rebuilding Together, formerly Christmas in April, to help renovate homes for the elderly and disabled in the Berkeley area as well as St. Mark's Hot Meals, a local soup kitchen that serves Berkeley's homeless population. We hope and expect that these relationships will continue to develop into those of mutual benefit, where we are able to help them as much as they help us.

UC Berkeley and Student Activism
UC Berkeley has a rich history of student activism. From the Free Speech Movement of the 1960s to the struggle to save the Department of Ethnic Studies in the late 1990s, Berkeley students have traditionally stood up for greater equality and for social justice. Our Campus Chapter allows students the opportunity to continue this tradition by helping to increase low-income families' access to affordable housing by giving a "hand-up, not a hand-out." Volunteering with Habitat for Humanity enables students to see immediate, positive, and tangible results of their service to the community.

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