MacKenzie Scott donates $11 million to Habitat for Humanity of Omaha

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Omaha’s Habitat for Humanity received its largest-ever single donation. The $11 million donation will go towards affordable housing.

It’s part of a larger donation from Mackenzie Scott, Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife.

“An $11 million gift to our community is going to be transformative,” said Amanda Brewer, Habitat for Humanity of Omaha CEO.

Brewer says the need for affordable housing in our community is greater than ever. In a two-day span last month the team took more than 3,000 calls from people wanting to be homeowners.

“The need in our community is great. People are struggling more than ever. Housing instability is a problem and we are going to be working hard to figure out how to serve more families.”

The team at Habitat Omaha says Scott’s donation will go beyond just building homes. It will be spent trying to tackle the issue of affordable housing along with preparing people in the community to be homeowners.

“There’s a lot of ways to make an impact in creating and stabilizing homeownership through building and renovating houses but also through our home repair program and helping people get mortgage ready so that they are able to buy a house when the time is right,” Brewer said.

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