Since a stroke left Antonio Botello paralyzed on his left side, it has been tough to keep up with repairs around the East St. Paul home he shares with his wife and children. In Minneapolis, Mohammed Wehelie's family has moved several times in the past several years, compromising four children's stability and social and academic well-being.

Things soon will improve for these families. They are among 26 hardworking, lower-income families that will have new or spruced-up places to call home by the end of the week.

Through the annual Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project, this week 12 homes in Minneapolis and 14 homes in St. Paul will be built, renovated or repaired. The Twin Cities is one of four U.S. hosts of the project this year, and the Carters will be here later this week to lend a hand.

In addition to the Twin Cities, the former president and First Lady will lend their carpentry skills to projects in Birmingham, Ala.; Washington, D.C.; and Baltimore and Annapolis, Md. The Carters have been involved with Habitat for 27 years, and during this year's project week, 86 homes in the United States will be built or fixed up in celebration of Jimmy Carter's 86th birthday.

"Habitat has opened up unprecedented opportunities for me to cross the chasm that separates those of us who are free, safe, financially secure, well-fed and housed ... from our neighbors who enjoy few, if any, of these advantages of life," Carter said.

That's certainly one of the benefits -- bringing thousands of people from all walks of life together to help build homes. Working side by side with the families who will occupy the homes helps volunteers get to know people and communities outside their own.

Of course, the homeowners themselves are major beneficiaries. In exchange for attending ownership and maintenance courses and putting several hundred hours of their own sweat equity into the projects, they receive a new or renovated house.

The Twin Cities project is also smartly focused on community rebuilding. Habitat worked with both core cities to identify neighborhoods hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis. The properties are all in the Hawthorne area of north Minneapolis and the Payne-Phalen neighborhood of St. Paul's East Side.

Attractive, stable houses and good owners will help revitalize blocks that have had multiple foreclosures. That, in turn, will rebuild confidence in the area and attract more business and homeowners.

Habitat for Humanity also provides an excellent model for doing affordable home ownership the right way. In the Twin Cities, Habitat -- with the help of dozens of sponsors -- works on about 50 homes per year. Even during the recent mortgage crisis, the foreclosure rate for those homes remained below 1 percent. Habitat thoroughly screens its applicants and provides mortgages that fit the family's budget.

That's why with Habitat's help, the Botellos and Wehelies and dozens like them will soon be positioned to be strong community stakeholders and good neighbors.