After temporarily volunteering in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, Liz McCartney and Zack Rosenburg returned permanently in March 2006 and founded the project.
The organization eventually expanded to include offices in New Orleans and Baton Rouge in Louisiana, Joplin, Missouri, Columbia, South Carolina, New Jersey, New York, and West Virginia.
[4] After going home and tying up loose ends, they returned with plans of building a community center, a camp for kids, and a tool-sharing co-op, but soon realized that the local population had more urgent needs.
[4] A local repairman, Frank White (whose business had been destroyed in the storm) trained the couple in construction and allowed them to use his space for their nascent organization in exchange for their help in repairing it.
[4] While rebuilding homes with their growing skills, McCartney used her history as a grant writer to seek foundation and corporate funding, and the couple toured the nation presenting the program to potential donors and volunteers.
[5][9] By its fifth anniversary, the organization had expanded to include rebuilding efforts in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Joplin, Missouri; Columbia, South Carolina; New Jersey; New York; and West Virginia.
[11] The Affordable Rental/First Time Homeowners Program aims to provide housing options to senior and disabled residents of SBP who face 50% increases in rental rates since hurricane Katrina.
By hiring and training veterans in residential construction and paying them fair and livable wages and benefits, SBP can both increase its workforce to rebuild homes, and improve blighted and vacant properties and neighborhoods.
[16] Highlighting the "dedicated public servants" of New Orleans, he remarked of SPB that "this endeavor has drawn volunteers from across the country to rebuild hundreds of homes throughout St. Bernard Parish and the Lower Ninth Ward.
[22] Over the years, SBP has partnered with other nonprofits and charities, including David's Cure,[23] Tuesday's Children,[24] The American Widow Project,[24] and the Risk and Insurance Management Society.
[26] Sponsored by Dow Building Solutions, a total of $30,000 in prize money was divided equally among three winning designs in New Orleans, Louisiana, Joplin, Missouri, and New York City.
[27] Additionally, in response to the increasing number of deadly storms between 2010 and 2013, Farmers Insurance began "researching a model that municipalities across the United States could use to significantly reduce the time required for residential recovery."
[30] In September 2015, SBP broke ground its new headquarters, moving from Chalmette to a 25,000-square-foot former salvage company on Toulouse Street as part of a $7.2 million relocation effort.
[35] J. J. Watt, defensive end for the Houston Texans, raised an unexpected $37 million towards the relief efforts,[36] and so consulted SBP and Team Rubicon for how to best spend the funds.
[38] SBP first sent AmeriCorps members to Puerto Rico in October 2017, but by July 2018 it began a long-term recovery effort by canvassing neighborhoods and prioritizing homeowners based on their level of need.