If you are in need of affordable housing, you may qualify as a Partner Family. Please click here for our most recent flyer.

How Does it Work?

Each Habitat applicant is reviewed for eligibility and commits to contributing at least 200-350 hours (known as sweat equity) toward the building of their own home or the homes of other families. These hours can be put in building houses, doing office work, preparing meals for volunteers, babysitting, and so on.

Relatives and friends can help accumulate necessary hours on behalf of the selected family. However, 175 hours must be completed by the applicant or those who will be living in the home when completed.

House payments are about $500 per month with no-profit mortgages for approximately 30 years. When your monthly real estate taxes and home insurance are added in, your monthly homeowner costs will be about $600 per month, excluding utilities.

Hanover Habitat for Humanity has a Family Services committee that selects and supports families who are selected for Habitat for Humanity homes. The mission of the committee is to be responsible for drafting the selection criteria used to select families. The committee is also responsible for informing prospective homeowners that they may be eligible to apply, developing an orientation program for applicants, developing application forms, screening applications, interviewing prospective families, and recommending applicants to the board for approval.

The backbone of the relationship between a family and a Habitat affiliate is the Family Services committee. A strong committee helps diminish the cycle of poverty by being a resource to families in the process of becoming homeowners.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development 502 Direct Loan offers mortgage options to low-income homebuyers in rural areas. Section 502 Direct Loans are made to low- and very low-income households—up to 80 percent of the Area Median Income.

In most instances no down payment is required, and interest rates are subsidized by the federal government. The amount of the loan a family can obtain is determined, in part, by a family’s ability to repay it (typically the family must be able to afford the mortgage payments, including taxes and insurance, which are 24 percent of their household’s income).

Loans are amortized over 30 or 38 years (with the longer amortization period available especially for those below 60 percent AMI). The home owner also pays a low interest rate to USDA, usually between 1% and 2%.