Habitat for Humanity

By Tether M. Coppock

Graduate Student, Grand Valley State University

Definition

Habitat for Humanity International is a nonprofit Christian organization that partners with future and current homeowners to build simple, decent, and affordable housing for low to very low-income families. Volunteers and future homeowners work together in the building process. Houses are sold at no profit and owners are charged no interest. The purpose of the organization is to bring families and communities in need together with resources and volunteers to eliminate substandard housing in low-income areas.

Historic Roots

The idea for Habitat for Humanity originated at Koinonia Farm, which is a small Christian farming community located outside of Americus, Georgia. Clarence Jordan brought the idea to Millard Fuller, who is the founder and president of Habitat for Humanity International. Together, they developed the idea of “partnership housing,” calling for families in need of a home to partner with volunteers to build affordable homes. The organization has provided safe, comfortable housing for more than 625,000 people around the world.

Financially, Millard Fuller enjoyed an extremely successful life. By the age of twenty-nine, Fuller was a millionaire but began to lose the things that were most important to him. His marriage, integrity, and health soon began to fade which caused him to re-evaluate his life and make significant changes. Through this reassessment of his life, Fuller, a devout Christian, decided to recommit his life to serving God. Millard and wife Linda decided to sell their possessions, give the money away, and find a new purpose for life. This search led them to Koinonia Farm where they explored ways to make a difference in the world as Christians.

Along with Clarence Jordan, the Koinonia founder, the Fullers initiated several projects, one of which included a housing division. They began to build simple houses that were available to low-income families. The families designated as recipients of the homes were required to help in the building process for their own homes and others. This significantly reduced the cost of the home; the money for building and house payments were placed in the organization’s revolving fund. The economic philosophy of Habitat for Humanity is taken directly from the Bible (Exodus 22:25) which states that “someone lending money to the poor should not act as a creditor and charge interest.”

Habitat for Humanity went worldwide in 1973 when Fuller moved his family to Africa to test the project outside the United States. It turned out to be a success and upon their return to the United States in 1976 came the development of Habitat for Humanity International. Since 1976, Habitat for Humanity has built homes for over 125,000 families in more than 3,000 U.S. cities and eighty-two countries.

Importance

The social need for Habitat for Humanity is extremely important. It utilizes resources and hard work to provide safe and affordable housing to low-income families. Research has proven that children need a safe home in order to receive a better education. By properly educating the youth of the world, they are enabled with the ability to impact society at a higher level. In Michigan, of the 2,000 Habitat for Humanity homeowners, sixty-eight percent now have a higher family income, twenty-five percent have noticed an increase in grades, and forty percent now go on to receive a higher education degree.

The need for housing in the U.S. is at an all-time high, with close to thirty million households facing problems such as overcrowded homes, inadequate physical necessities (like running water), and paying too much of their income on mortgages and associated costs. These factors cause house payments to deplete most of the household income. In 1999, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (1997) released a report revealing the following disturbing statistics: 10.9 million individuals face “worst-case housing needs” and, of those, 10.9 million individuals, 3.6 and 1.4 million are children and elderly, respectively.

Ties to the Philanthropic Sector

Habitat for Humanity homes are sold with no profit received and no interest charged. The homes are built through volunteer labor and donated resources and money. Homeowners must provide a down payment and make payments on their home; it is not a charity program. Along with the prospective homeowner’s hard work (also known as sweat equity), he or she is required to pay back the interest-free loan, therefore, providing a sense of accomplishment.

Funding for Habitat for Humanity comes from house payments, donations, and no-interest loans provided by supporters of the organization. All money donated and received is placed into a revolving fund, which is applied to the next home that is built.

Key Related Ideas

• Habitat for Humanity creates community building by bringing neighborhoods together to decrease substandard housing.
• Habitat for Humanity wants all individuals to have a chance at fair housing.
• The importance of homeownership is the main value that Habitat strives to instill into the community.
• By having families own their own homes, they are granted a sense of self-sufficiency.
• Families build their homes using sweat equity by encouraging them to put time, sweat, and effort into building their new home.
• Homeowners and community members have the opportunity to instill volunteerism in their communities by building with Habitat for Humanity.

Important People Related to the Topic

• George W. Bush, forty-third president of the United States, has been a significant spokesperson for Habitat for Humanity, providing his support and volunteerism to the organization. He has physically helped to build homes in Texas, and continues to speak out on the need for affordable housing in order to increase homeownership.
• Jimmy Carter, thirty-ninth president of the United States, is the most visible and well-known spokesperson for Habitat for Humanity International. He is deeply committed to the social welfare of individuals and has devotedly worked to eliminate the problem of poverty around the world. Carter’s involvement with Habitat for Humanity began in 1984 when he led a work group to renovate a building in New York City, providing safe housing for nineteen different families; this began the Jimmy Carter Work Project, now an annual event. Each year Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, devote a week of their time to build homes and raise awareness of the vital need for affordable housing around the world.
• Linda Fuller is co-founder of Habitat for Humanity International, and wife of founder and president Millard Fuller. Linda and Millard have received the Harry S. Truman Public Service Award and she has also received the Mark O. Hatfield Leadership Award. Linda has created the program WATCH (Women Accepting the Challenge of Housing) in order to increase the participation of women building homes. With the program, at least one home is built annually by women only.

• Millard Fuller is the president and founder of Habitat for Humanity International. The organization has developed into a worldwide Christian housing organization which strives to demonstrate God’s love through providing housing for those in need in more than 3,000 U.S. cities and eighty-two countries.

Related Nonprofit Organizations

Asian Neighborhood Design (A.N.D.) is a community development agency that works to provide “housing and community development, architecture and planning, construction management, family and youth self-sufficiency services, employment training, and job and business creation for low-income multicultural communities� (A.N.D. 2003). Find out more about the nonprofit agency at http://www.andnet.org/ .

Related Web Sites

Habitat for Humanity International Web site , at http://www.habitat.org , offers information about the organization's programs, history, events, access to local affiliates and more. The site also provides Habitat World , a worldwide magazine providing stories and up-to-date information about the organization.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition Web site , at http://www.nlihc.org , strives to provide education and advocacy regarding America's affordable housing crisis

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Web site , at http://www.hud.gov , is a resource for providing information and research pertaining to affordable housing and homeownership. HUD strives to provide a safe, sanitary and suitable home for all Americans. The department was developed in 1965 as a presidential Cabinet-level agency that works to enforce homeownership laws, provide assistance to the needy, and develop communities in which it is safe to live.

Bibliography

Asian Neighborhood Design. Home Page . [cited 10 May 2003]. Available from http://www.andnet.org/.

Cloyer, Corey J. “Habitat for Humanity: Building Private Homes, Building Public Religion,� Sociology of Religion 63 (2002): 389-390.

Habitat for Humanity International. Affordable Housing Statistics . [ cited 3 February 2003 ] . Available from http://www.habitat.org/how/stats2001.html .

Hodson, Victoria Kindle and Mariaemma Pelullo-Willis. “Substandard Housing a Barrier to Learning,� Habitat World (June/July 2002).

Kaufman, Tracy. Poverty Housing Defeats Families . Habitat for Humanity International. [ cited 16 January 2003 ] . Available from http://www.habitat.org/how/poverty.html .

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Making Homeownership a Reality: Survey of Habitat for Humanity International Home and Affiliates (September 1997): 143. [ updated 3 July 2002; cited 15 January 2003 ] . Available from http://www.huduser.org/publications/affhsg/habhome.html .