Habitat for Humanity's annual challenge brings new homes to families in need in Orange County

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- It's a building challenge that's making the dream of home ownership possible. Plus, it's giving hope and a place to call home for residents of Orange County.

For the 15th year, Habitat for Humanity of Orange County is bringing new home builds to the community through its annual Leaders Build Challenge event.

"Habitat for Humanity of Orange County has been around since 1988 for 36 years. We have built 239 homes in Orange County in that time, but we have a big goal to increase that number, double it over the next 5 years," said Michael Valentine/CEO, Habitat for Humanity of O.C.

Overtime, they've raised $1.5 million to build homes in the community. During this year's annual Leaders Build Challenge, which took place at Behr Paints headquarters in Santa Ana, participants constructed the ground floors for six new home builds that will be erected on West Washington Avenue in Santa Ana.

"Oh my god, it's so rewarding and getting to meet the families this year was really incredible as well, but just building something you know is going to be a lifetime of opportunity for families who otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity to own a home, to get them in on first time purchases to be able to hopefully multi-generational living," said Sharon Micheal Oliver, a volunteer crew leader.

Companies like Antis Roofing in Irvine helped build these homes, and the founder says there's a bright future for the community through their mission.

"Sometimes we would go into a home and there would be no money, but our hearts, we had this empathy. We would say just patch the roof. We found that we couldn't let a family have a leaky roof just because they didn't have the money to pay, so when Habitat came and said would you donate a roof, it was easy to say 'Yes' to the first one, but who knew it would lift our culture," said Charles Antis with Antis Roofing.

After the event, the Habit for Humanity O.C. team will store the framing walls at its headquarters. They hope to break ground in July for the home builds on west Washington avenue in Santa Ana.