Hundreds join Unity Concert to support housing in Sacramento
Concert brings together people of different faiths
Concert brings together people of different faiths
Concert brings together people of different faiths
Hundreds of people joined together in song Sunday afternoon in midtown Sacramento.
They were singing in partnership with Habitat for Humanity and the Interfaith Council of Sacramento to celebrate unity and to help raise money to build new homes for families in need.
The Unity Concert brought people of different religious faiths to build a chorus of support for new housing and to celebrate diversity in a world that often feels divided.
The Habitat for Humanity project is supported by Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, who attended the event. Steinberg is the chair of the governor’s statewide task force on homelessness.
“Until we say that it is unacceptable in a civil society for people to be living in squalid conditions outdoors, the problem is going to grow worse,” Steinberg said.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Steinberg added.
California is facing a housing crisis, but Habitat for Humanity wants to erect more homes for low-income people in Sacramento, where housing is out of reach for so many residents.
“We have over 62,000 families that are in need of affordable housing right now just in Sacramento,” said Laine Himmelmann, development director for Habitat for Humanity in Sacramento.
The group is now building a cluster of homes in South Sacramento.
“When the final home of this development is done in September, we will have completed 150 homes in Sacramento and Yolo County,” Himmelmann said.
Habitat for Humanity has already raised $150,000, but the group is still about $70,000 short of the $220,000 needed to build more homes, with plans to start construction in October with the help of hundreds of volunteers.
“Our families partner with us,” Himmelmann said. “They are qualified, low-income families who put in 500 hours of sweat equity working alongside volunteers. And they purchase their homes for a 30-year, zero percent interest equivalent mortgage."
Sunday’s concert was designed to help bridge the fundraising gap with more donations. It’s a project supported by the Interfaith Council of Sacramento.
“It’s really important because it bring all faiths together,” said Akram Keval, of the Interfaith Council of Sacramento. “And we can come together and unite and do something good for the needy families."
“It doesn't matter how we pray or where we come from. At the end of the day, we are all the same,” Keval added.
In the end, the concert promoters hope to build a strong foundation where people can live in harmony.