Greenwood Area Habitat for Humanity, Greenwood, SC, USA

Through volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, Habitat builds simple, decent houses with the help of homeowner (partner) families. Habitat houses are SOLD to partner families at no-profit and are financed with affordable, zero-interest loans at terms of 20 years. The homeowner’s monthly mortgage payments are used to build other Habitat houses. In addition to the monthly mortgage payments, homeowners invest 500 hours of their own labor (also called “sweat equity”) into building their Habitat house and the houses of others.

In Greenwood, the cost of a Habitat home is approximately $55,000. Habitat houses are affordable for low income families because no profit is included in the sale price and no interest is charged on the mortgage.

Families in need of decent housing complete an application. The family selection committee then chooses homeowners based on their level of need, their willingness to become partners in the program, and their ability to repay the no-interest loan. We follow a nondiscriminatory policy of family selection. Neither race nor religion is a factor in choosing the families who receive Habitat houses.