How does it work?

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, financed with affordable, no-interest 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.

What does a Habitat house cost?

Here in Franklin County our houses average between $40,000 and $43,000. In developing countries they may be as low as $1,800, while in some areas of the United States the cost may run as high as $80,000 to $100,000 due to the high cost of land, fees, taxes, and building materials.

Habitat houses are affordable for low-income families because there is no profit included in the sale price and no interest charged on the mortgage. Mortgage length varies from seven to 30 years.

How are donations distributed and used?

Your donations are all used to buy land and build houses. The expense of running our organization is very low. We send 10% of the undesignated cash donations as our tithe to Habitat International. So, when you donate to the local organization you are helping Habitat International build houses around the world. (Donations for a specific item or house are not part of this tithe.) .