Affordable Housing: An Introduction to Habitat for Humanity

1. Affordable Housing:An Introduction to Habitat for Humanity http://www.habitat.org/

2. What is Habitat for Humanity International? Habitat for Humanity International seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action.Habitat invites people of all backgrounds, races, and religions to build houses together in partnership with families in need.

3. Habitat has built more than 300,000 houses around the world, providing more than 1.5 million people in more than 3,000 communities with safe, decent, affordable shelter. HFHI was founded in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller.

4. International HeadquartersLocated in Americus, Georgia, USA Habitat's new headquarters was built with designated donations. No house-building funds were used. The administrative headquarters, located in Atlanta, Georgia, provides information, training, and a variety of other support services to Habitat affiliates worldwide.

5. 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 and are financed with affordable loans. The homeowners’ monthly mortgage payments are used to build additional Habitat houses.

6. 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.

7. The first U.S. Habitat house built outside of Georgia was completed in 1979 in San Antonio, Texas. More than half of all Habitat houses are built outside of the United States, many in developing nations.

8. Types of Habitat Houses Differ Depending on the Region and Needs Attached units where land is expensive Basic two bedroom unit South facing windows in colder climate Energy-efficient components

9. Habitat House Cost? Throughout the world, the cost of houses varies from as little as $800 in some developing countries to an average of nearly $60,000 in the United States.Habitat houses are affordable for low-income families because there is no profit included in the sale price. Mortgage length varies from seven to 30 years.

10. Energy Star Building Since 1995 Habitat for Humanity International has partnered with the Florida Solar Energy Center and the Department of Energy’s Building America program to produce thousands of houses that are energy-efficient, durable, and provide healthy indoor air quality.

11. The Better Built Program The Better Built program incorporates the best practices adopted by Habitat’s former network, the Green Team. The principles of the Better Built Program remain the same, highlighting energy-efficient, healthy, and environmentally-friendly building processes.

12. Materials Conservation Habitat's attention to resource efficiency starts with the house design. By promoting a building technique known as Optimized Value Engineering, Habitat encourages its affiliates to build houses using designs that use less lumber and reduce material waste.

13. Sources http://www.habitat.org