Housing and Opportunity Foundation of Kern

Kern County, since its inception, has been a rural area.  Rural areas often face different and more significant challenges than their metropolitan counterparts regarding poverty: lower educational levels, greater unemployment and underemployment levels, employment contained largely to low wage industries, fewer work support services offered, etc. As a result rural, areas tend to have increased levels of poverty when compared to metro/urban areas. With 23% of its population living under the poverty level and 12,000 families on the wait list for public housing, Kern County is no different.  

The Housing & Opportunity Foundation of Kern (HOFK) provides hope, inspiration, and opportunity to seniors, youth, and families residing in the county’s low income public housing, and those in the Section 8 program. The seniors, youth, and families in our programs have sought us out in an effort to change their lives and work their way out of low income public housing and into their own home. There are many barriers for them to overcome: lack of education, little or no job experience or training, poor self-esteem, and no positive role models. We help them help themselves by providing a safe, positive, nurturing, and educational environment where they can gain the insight, self-esteem, education, skills, and experience they need to become self- sufficient contributing members of society.