It’s Not Just about Building Houses – It’s About Building Lives
By Susan Briggs, December 2007
Families who are selected for the Loveland Habitat for Humanity program enter into a unique partnership. They purchase their home from our organization through a no-interest loan and with no profit to the Loveland Habitat for Humanity affiliate. We loan the family the money to buy the home for up to 30 years at zero interest and require a down payment of only $850. The mortgage payments are established at 28% of the family’s monthly income and are made up of principal and escrow for insurance and taxes.
Our homeowners must have lived or worked in Loveland for at least a year and must be U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents. They earn between 30% and 60% of the area median income and must not be able to qualify for conventional home financing. They must demonstrate that they currently pay their bills on time, have no open collections, liens or judgements and cannot have had a bankruptcy in the past two years.
In addition, our partner families provide a minimum of 250 hours for single parent families, and 500 hours for two parent families, of “sweat equity” on Habitat for Humanity homes (including their own) participating in homeowner education classes and at our thrift store.
As our organization has matured, we have recognized that although stable housing provides the basis for stable families, other tools are required to support a family on it’s journey toward self sufficiency. In recognition of this need, the Family Support Committee has developed the Homeowner Education program. We have extended the scope of our program to include other self-sufficiency oriented non-profit agencies in our community so that we are able to be better stewards of donated funds and community resources.
- Parenting with Love and Logic
- Money Matters
- Read, Set, Move!
- Car Matters
- Wills Workshop
- Cooking Matters
for their time and efforts in providing these classes:
- Consumer Credit Counseling Services
- CSU Extension
- Denise Bretting
- Steve Noonan
- Cheryl O’Shell
- Evan Patterson
- John Schneible
- Julia Engle and her children, Jamia and Jovon
