Applicants
How do applicants qualify and how are they selected?
A Family Selection Committee, made up of volunteers from the community, works with Habitat staff to review and evaluate applications. As part of this process, committee members visit each candidate before final approval.
Many of the applicants that come to Habitat for housing live in substandard or overcrowded conditions, or are trying to escape an unsafe neighborhood. Others are having difficulty paying high monthly rental payments (in Wake County the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $811).
Habitat does not give houses away. Applicants must invest a minimum of 250 hours of "sweat equity" in Habitat volunteer work as well as the construction of their own home. They then purchase their Habitat home with a $1250 downpayment and a 0% interest mortgage provided by Habitat.
The average monthly mortgage payment on a new Habitat home is approximately $550, including taxes and insurance. Mortgage payment receipts flow back to Habitat to help build more homes in Wake County.
Our current upper annual income limit for a household of four is $35,800. Typically, Habitat households have annual incomes between $20,000 and $30,000.
The Homes
How much do Habitat homes cost? How do we pay for and build them?
Total cost for a home varies by site, but averages over $90,000 including land and site development costs.
Most of our capital building funds come from sponsors churches, corporations, individuals, civic groups, and foundations. Our sponsorship rate for an entire house is $70,000, which covers most of the cost of materials and professional labor.
We help make up the difference between the sponsorship rate and total home cost with receipts from our Habitat ReStore, mortgage payments from existing homeowners, funds from local government, and general contributions. Habitat typically uses government funds for land purchases and site development.
Habitat exceeds the quality standards of the for-profit building community, as we go beyond regulations and meet Energy Star/Systems Vision standards. A Habitat houses ranges in size from 780 to 1,610 square feet.
