Through volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, Habitat builds and rehabilitates simple, decent houses with the help of the homeowner (partner) families. Habitat houses are sold to partner families at no profit and financed with affordable loans. The homeowners’ monthly mortgage payments are used to build still more Habitat houses.

Habitat is not a giveaway program. In addition to a down payment and the monthly mortgage payments, homeowners invest hundreds of hours of their own labor — sweat equity — into building their Habitat house and the houses of others.

Habitat houses are simple, decent, and affordable. They are modestly-sized, large enough for the homeowner family’s needs, but small enough to keep construction and maintenance costs to a minimum. Habitat  uses quality, locally-available building materials. Habitat house designs reflect the local climate and culture. Lastly, the labor of volunteers and partner families, efficient building methods, modest house sizes and no-profit loans make it affordable for low-income families to purchase Habitat houses.

A family selection committee chooses homeowners based on their level of need, their willingness to become partners in the program and their ability to repay the loan. We follow a nondiscriminatory policy of family selection. Neither race nor religion is a factor in choosing the families who receive Habitat houses.