Solano Habitat for Humanity (SHFH) was established in 1991 when a small grass-roots organization sought to establish a local affiliate for Habitat for Humanity International to address the shortage of affordable housing for low-income households in the area.
Over the years, SHFH organized the infrastructure and rallied the volunteers to begin building affordable houses, and using Habitat's Partnership Housing model, by 2002 five families had partnered with SHFH to build their own affordable homes (in Fairfield, Vallejo, and Vacaville). In 2002, SHFH absorbed a fledgling Habitat affiliate covering Napa County, and in 2005, SHFH officially became Solano-Napa Habitat for Humanity (SNHFH).
SNHFH continued to follow the traditional Habitat model of building single-family homes from the ground up in partnership with local low-income families, so they could be sold to those families with affordable financing (most often a 0% interest 30-year mortgage resulting in monthly payments of no more than 30% of the household income). However, the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009 changed that for SNHFH and most other Habitat affiliates. Instead of simply adding inventory to markets with a surplus of inventory, Habitat (and SNHFH) also began applying its Partnership Housing model to repairing houses, so low-income homeowners could age in place, or so that vacant homes could be made available at an affordable price to low-income households. At about the same time, SNHFH also began exploring the opportunity to open a Habitat ReStore.
