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My New Kentucky Home: Habitat for Humanity


Our local Habitat for Humanity organization serves Washington, Marion and Nelson Counties.

FACTS:
Houses are not given away.
The prospective Habitat homeowner is required to contribute a monetary downpayment in addition to hundreds of hours of "sweat equity" in their home or another Habitat home. Home mortgage payments are kept low due to volunteer labor and donations of material and land.
Habitat houses vs. neighborhood property values.
Studies conclude there is no adverse effect of property values when affordable homes are built in neighborhoods. In fact, the opposite usually happens...property values actually increase.
Are some people given priority?
The Christian-based Habitat organization determines approved applicants by need, ability to repay the no-interest, no-profit mortgage payments and willingness to partner with Habitat. Applicants are not determined by race or religion or any other difference.
Is the local affiliation ruled by Habitat for Humanity International?
To a degree, that's true. Headquarters has developed an efficient and organized approach for everything from selecting applicants to selecting a homesite. Those steps are helpful and speed up time-consuming processes. The local affiliation is an independent, non-profit organization operating in it's service area, under a binding agreement with HFH International. Local affiliations are urged to determine what will work best for their area. There are over 2,100 active affiliations, worldwide!
Do you have to be on welfare to be an applicant?
No. Some Habitat families receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children, many more are working people with an annual income of less than 1/2 the local median income in their community.
Habitat is not part of a government program.
Habitat is an ecumenical Christian housing organization. It is not an arm of the government nor of any church or denomination. It does not accept government funds for building or renovating homes, although it does accept government assistance for acquiring land or rehabilitating houses. Habitat also accepts government funds for streets, utilities and administrative expenses as long as no strings are attached.
How did Habitat for Humanity get started?
Many consider Habitat to be the creation of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. Although they were instrumental in bringing international attention to Habitat, the organization was actually founded in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller. Headquarters are still in Americus, GA, where the organization originally began.
How many houses have been built?
More than 200,000 houses have been built, in 3,000 communities around the world, since it was founded in 1976. That has provided more than 1,000,000 people with safe, decent, affordable homes!
How much do they cost?
The average Habitat house costs the homeowner about $60,000, in the U.S. and mortgages can run from 7 to 30 years.

* To donate to our organization, you may click on the donation tab above. Thank You.