Jonathan Reckford

8 Posts

Jonathan T.M. Reckford is chief executive officer of Habitat for Humanity International, a nonprofit Christian housing organization that, since 1976, has helped more than 5 million people construct, rehabilitate or preserve homes in more than 70 countries. Jonathan serves on the boards of InterAction, the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Duke Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship and Industrial Heat. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Urban Steering Committee for the World Economic Forum. He is the author of a book titled Creating a Habitat for Humanity: No Hands but Yours.
Organizing

Putting Housing Back at the Forefront of the National Conversation

Eric’s family purchased a Habitat for Humanity home in the Florida farming community of Immokalee, Florida, which among many other things, provided stability and quiet. Eric recently earned a full […]

Housing

Housing Groups Should Expand to Repair Work to Help Seniors Age in Place

Before school Oliver used to collect baskets of wood that his father would sell. That was his way of contributing to the effort of saving money for a lot on […]

Community Development Field

Neighborhood Investment Doesn’t Have to Mean Displacement

The word “gentrification” is a loaded one and has a host of negative implications for people in the housing field, as well as for the people who live in neighborhoods […]

Equity

What Have We Learned a Decade after the Gulf Coast Hurricanes?

As the housing community reflects in August on the tenth anniversary of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, what are the lessons we've learned from those disasters and the ones that followed? […]

Housing

The Ripple Effects of Having a Stable Home

“Homeownership increases a chance that a child will stay in school by up to 9 percent for low-income families,” said Vice President Joe Biden at a forum in April co-hosted […]

Equity

Transforming Communities Through Residential Energy Efficiency

Too many people are forced to choose between paying to heat and cool their homes or paying for medicine, food and other necessities.

Health

Making the Connections Between Housing and Health

In December, President Barack Obama signed into law the Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act that offers health, and dignity to millions of people through access to life-saving water and sanitation. The focus of this legislation will not cost taxpayers a penny more; it simply makes U.S. investment in existing programs smarter, more […]

Housing Microfinance: So Little Changes So Much

Housing in the developing world is a process. Families may replace a dirt floor with a clean, hard surface. They might reinforce the walls or the roof to prevent water from seeping through the cracks when it rains. They may build an additional room after welcoming a new child into the world or build a […]