Housing has become one of the defining issues of our time. But understanding the challenge requires us to rethink what housing really means-and what it makes possible.
Around the world, rising costs and a changing housing landscape are reshaping where people can live, how communities grow, and who has access to opportunity. Families are finding it harder to access safe, affordable housing. Communities are struggling to retain workers. And the consequences reach far beyond housing itself, affecting health, education, economic mobility, resilience, and belonging.
In Rethinking Home, Jonathan Reckford draws on more than two decades as CEO of Habitat for Humanity International to explore what he has learned about one of society's most complex-and most solvable-challenges.
His perspective has evolved along with Habitat's work. Building more homes remains essential. But meeting today's housing need also requires us to think about the land beneath those homes, the capital that makes them possible, new approaches to construction, the strength of communities, and ultimately the opportunity that a stable home can create.
Through stories and lessons from communities around the world, Reckford takes readers from incremental building and innovative financing to healthier homes, stronger neighborhoods, new technologies, and unexpected partnerships. He shows how governments, businesses, nonprofits, financial institutions, communities, and individuals can each help expand access to housing-and why none can solve the challenge alone.
This is not simply a book about Habitat for Humanity. Nor is it a history of an organization marking its fiftieth anniversary.
It is a deeply informed and hopeful exploration of what more than twenty years of leadership have taught Reckford about housing, partnership, innovation, and the power of questioning old assumptions. Rather than presenting housing as an intractable crisis, he offers something increasingly valuable: practical optimism grounded in what he has seen work.
For business and civic leaders, policymakers, housing professionals, nonprofit leaders, community builders-and anyone concerned about the future of opportunity-Rethinking Home offers a new way to understand housing and a compelling invitation to help shape what comes next.
Home shapes opportunity. And every one of us has an opportunity to help shape its future.