Where Community Takes Shape: Habitat for Humanity's Blankenship Place
Community isn’t created with four walls, it’s what happens within those four walls that creates the moments that build our communities. Families around the dinner table, friends in the backyard for a barbecue, children learning to walk in a living room, and, at times, a safe and comfortable place for someone to stay. It’s kids walking to school, or neighbors stopping to chat on your front porch, it’s the quiet and ordinary moments of daily life that community is built. So, although community isn’t just four walls, all these moments need somewhere to happen. They need a home.
At COAR, our community is not only the driving force behind the projects we choose to do, but it’s the foundation for why we do what we do. Our Santa Rosa team had the opportunity to work alongside our friends at ZFA and McCarthy to work on Habitat for Humanity’s Blankenship Place project – four townhomes in the heart of Sebastopol, built for four families who were already woven into the fabric of the community they’d soon have a permanent place in.
Where the Story Begins
Guided by the foundational belief that generational positive change can be created with access to affordable homeownership, Habitat for Humanity partners with local families, volunteers, and donors to make that vision a reality. Since their inception 41 years ago, the Sonoma County affiliate has completed 28 homes for 133 family members, with a positive ripple effect that has impacted the lives exponentially more.
COAR’s story with Habitat for Humanity spans back to 2018 when members of the team, then JKA, dedicated their own time to designing the plans for the Graton Green Valley Village project. Once designed, the team visited Sonoma for a 2-day volunteer build working on the framing and walls of the Graton Green Valley Village. Understanding the impact these homes will have on the community, COAR president Jeff Katz was eager to continue building a relationship with the organization and jumped at the opportunity to help design what would become Blankenship Place.
Now, the Habitat for Humanity mission to create opportunities for affordable housing is once again coming to realization as the finishing touches are put in place at the Blankenship Place townhomes in Sebastopol. Painting, landscaping, hardware, and thousands of hours of sweat equity are all coming together as the four recipient families take one step closer to becoming homeowners.
Following design completion, the COAR team was eager to volunteer on site and help make the project a reality – an opportunity not many architects get to experience on projects they have designed. In early June, along with ZFA Structural Engineers, McCarthy Building Companies, and several members of the recipient families, we spent the day at the Habitat for Humanity Blankenship Place site working on some of the finishing touches of the homes.
Taking Shape Together
Energy on the site was palpable. Following a presentation from Habitat staff on the company history, the significance of these homes, and their exciting upcoming work, our team was able to tour the homes accompanied by the families who will live in them. Hearing firsthand what each family envisioned in their space, and what future dreams they hold for their homes cemented the significance of Habitat’s mission. Seeing the families proudly showing off their hard work, and hearing them share their visions of quiet retirements, full holiday tables, and children they hoped to welcome into foster care, that turned the day into something far more significant than a build.
Following the tours, the team proudly donned the teal “Volunteer” shirts, and got quickly to work building a backyard deck, painting backyard fence and exterior trim, installing doorknobs and interior finishes, grading and weeding the backyard to prep for future landscaping, and grading the front porch area.
“Friday was a great reminder for our team of why we do what we do,” shared Jeff Katz following the volunteer day. COAR, which stands for Community Architects, is dedicated to improving communities through design, a vision which is epitomized by Habitat for Humanity. The Blankenship Place Townhomes sit just 15 minutes from the COAR office in Santa Rosa, and in the center of Sebastopol. These new townhomes will serve four Sebastopol families, many of whom already have children attending Sebastopol schools. Each townhome includes features to support long-term living: private front porches and back patios, single car garages, and ADA-compliant lower-level bathrooms that make aging in place possible. Located in the heart of Sebastopol, the homes are a short walk to the Sebastopol Plaza which hosts outdoor events & farmers markets — allowing each family to continue building community just steps away from their front doors.
The Next Chapter
The build team, families, and volunteers are hard at work, continuing to build the garages, add interior finishes, and install exterior landscaping. The final home dedication ceremony is scheduled for later this summer, where each family will receive the keys to the homes they built surrounded by the friends, family, and volunteers who helped them along the way.
The dream doesn't stop here. Habitat for Humanity of Sonoma County is always pursuing additional affordable housing opportunities for the community – and we can't wait to support their next projects however we can. Because in the end, it was never just about the framing, the paint, or the hardware. It's what happens within those four walls — the dinners, the homework, the holidays — that turns a build site into a home, and four houses into a community.