Habitat for Humanity International is 50 years old this year, the same year of the 40th Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project.

“How appropriate for our 50th year to come back to Atlanta, as we were born in Georgia,” said Jonathan Reckford, president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity International. “Obviously there’s no replacing President and Mrs. Carter, and so there’s a bittersweet aspect. But we know the best way to honor the remarkable legacy of the Carters is to keep the work going.”

The last time the Carter Work Project took place in Atlanta was in 1988 when Andrew Young was mayor. They helped build 21 Habitat homes in the Edgewood neighborhood.

The first Carter Work Project was in 1984, when the Carters rode a Trailways bus to New York City to help rehabilitate a tenement building on the Lower Eastside. The secret service trailed them in a van, and the Carters slept in a church dormitory.

“That’s when the world found out about Habitat,” Reckford said. “That remarkably started a 35-year run of every year the Carters building somewhere in the world. In so many ways, they really put Habitat on the map.”

Rosalynn Carter died in November 2023 at 96, and former President Jimmy Carter died in December 2024 at 100. The two of them last participated in a Carter Work Project in 2019, held in Nashville.

“COVID was the thing that finally stopped him from coming out and building, but they wanted to see the work go forward,” Reckford said. “Obviously, we want to see the work go forward.”

The Carter Work Project is Habitat’s signature annual event, and Reckford spoke of a “coming full circle moment” with the event returning to Atlanta, the headquarters of Habitat International and the Carter Center, as well as the home of Atlanta Habitat, one of the strongest Habitat affiliates in the country.

When picking the place for the 2026 Carter Work Project, it needed an affiliate that could handle “a giant event” and where Habitat “would amplify and accelerate a good project,” and a place where the organization could spotlight the need for affordable housing.

Another twist of fate, Rosalyn Merrick, president and CEO of Atlanta Habitat, was named after the former First Lady because her mom loved the name.

With the help of hundreds (if not thousands) of volunteers, the five-day Carter Work Project in Atlanta will build 24 homes in the Sylvan Hills neighborhood.

“This Carter work project is really significant and important to us because it helps launch our newest planned community, Langston Park,” Merrick said. “This is only the second time that Atlanta Habitat has done a planned development. “This community will ultimately serve 64 families with home ownership, affordable home ownership.”

Merrick said the Carter Work Project will help launch the nonprofit’s next five-year strategic plan to help provide more affordable home ownership opportunities. Since Atlanta Habitat was formed 43 years ago, it his served 3,005 families.

“In the next five years, we will serve 1,500 more families,” said Merrick, pointing to the acceleration of Atlanta Habitat’s work. The nonprofit bought the property in 2015 at “a fair price,” and it has worked with the local community to visualize the development.

“We’re excited that Langston Park will introduce our first-ever townhomes,” she said, adding it is part of the Atlanta Habitat’s strategic plan to create energy-efficient homes with greater density so it can maximize the property it owns.

The need is as great as it’s ever been.

“We are at a time where housing is really at a crisis point,” Reckford said. “The last five years have been a perfect storm in terms of everything going wrong in terms of housing affordability. To solve that, we need to build a lot more housing here in Georgia and everywhere in the world. We also recognize we need more of every kind of housing.”

Habitat’s focus on affordable home-ownership dovetails with the goals of Mayor Andre Dickens’ administration.

Merrick said Carter Work Project has received “full support” of the mayor, his cabinet and operations teams despite the city being in the middle of preparing to host the World Cup this summer, specifically mentioning the support of City Hall’s Inyo Cue, Kimberly Craig and Keyetta Holmes.

The project also spotlights Atlanta Habitat’s growth since November 2020, when Merrick joined the organization – first as its chief development officer and later as its chief operations officer. She was named CEO in May of 2024.

“When I joined, our staff team was about 75,” Merrick said. “We now have 115 members on staff, which represents tremendous growth.”

Contrary to public perception, Habitat does not give homes away. Instead, homeowners must earn their way to become Habitat owners, which involves financial management and home maintenance training. That gives them the opportunity to buy an affordable, energy-efficient home.

In return, it creates stability in their lives, giving them better health and educational outcomes. It also creates a long-term asset and wealth-building for a family.

Reckford, who became CEO of Habitat International in 2005, said it has been particularly painful to see cities that historically have been affordable, such as Atlanta and Austin, become unaffordable since 2019.

“We’re seeing the gap between what it costs to create a unit of housing and what families can afford is the widest it’s been in modern history,” Reckford said. “There’s no magic bullet.”

Today, Habitat not only focuses on how many homes it can build but on what it will take to address the housing needs in all the communities it serves around the world. It has become more of an advocate for housing affordability locally, nationally and globally.

Reckford said it has been moving from being a builder of homes to being a developer of neighborhoods, so it can have a greater impact.

“We’ve set a bold goal for the 50th anniversary,” Reckford said. “We want to help 50 million people over the next three years. We call it 50 for 50.”

That includes directly building or improving housing for 3 million people, trying to change policies to create a more friendly housing environment for 30 million people. It also plans to help another 14 million people upgrade their housing while engaging up to three million volunteers.

“We work in over 60 countries,” said Reckford, estimating there are 18,000 people who are part of the Habitat International network, with 900 of them working for the Atlanta-based umbrella group.

Currently, there are 970 affiliates in the United States, down from 1,800 as smaller affiliates have merged with larger ones. The spirit of global cooperation and nonviolence permeates in Habitat’s work.

“What we’ve seen is fairly miraculous examples of people coming together across all kinds of differences,” Reckford said. President Carter was part of the first mixed-race community build in South Africa. A build in Northern Ireland included Portestants and Catholics working together. A build in India included Muslim and Hindus. And a build in Egypt included Christians and Muslims working side-by-side.

“I joke, we even have Democrats and Republicans building together,” Reckford said. “Housing can’t be a one-party effort.”

Chip and Becky Carter have been carrying forth the tradition. The Atlanta week will be Chip Carter’s 23rd Carter Work Project.

One of Reckford’s favorite quotes about Habitat International comes from Paul Leonard, a former board chair, who titled his book about Habitat: “Music of a Thousand Hammers.” Reckford loves that imagery because in our polarized world, it shows people working together toward a common good.

“President Carter’s personal work ethic, integrity and faith were such a great fit.” Reckford said. “He would always say that Habitat for Humanity was the best way he knew to put his faith into action.”

In other words, the Carters live on.

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