As good a place to correct a misconception as any
Randy Johnson
>Homes for Humanity I think it is called and is where they give houses they built to people at a greatly reduced price / or free.
Habitat for Humanity builds houses for low-income people who would not be able to BUY a home under normal circumstances. Contrary to uninformed opinion, the houses are never simply given free. There are a number of criteria for being selected for a Habitat home but the main one is LOW INCOME. This does not mean welfare. Anyone selected for a house must be gainfully employed just like anyone else trying for a home loan. The difference with Habitat is that the income requirement can be substantially reduced because the cost of building the home is substantially reduced. This is done first of all by the bulk of the labor being donated. Volunteers vary from professionals in various trades to those who simply want to help and show up willing to do anything they can. The homeowner to be is usually in the second category, but regardless of skills, the person who will be living in the house is there every work session because they are required to put in �sweat equity.� In addition to donated labor, costs are held down by materials being provided at reduced cost or, in a few instances, donated. Finally, the person getting the house makes interest free loan payments. But, and this is often misunderstood, they WILL be paying back the loan. They are not getting something for nothing.
As far as the �Good deal if you can get it I guess� part goes, there are a few other considerations. First of all, since real estate is not one of the things generally donated, the lots we build on are often in that part of town known commonly as �the wrong side of the tracks�. It�s what we can afford. Since the goal of Habitat is simply to build �decent affordable housing� and not to build showplaces, the houses are often smaller than those surrounding them are. On several of the single story homes out local chapter has built we have had to get a special variance because the square footage was smaller than county codes allowed. I doubt if there are many reading this who would trade what they have for the eligibilty to quailify for a Habitat house.
There are a lot of people (and I�ve met many of them) who bristle at the mention of Habitat for Humanity because they think that although THEY have had to work for everything they have, someone else is being given a free ride. First of all, it isn�t true. The financial burden on the owner of a Habitat house is similar to the burden borne by the average homeowner. Yes, the payments are substantially less. So is the income. And once the house is occupied, the cost of maintaining, heating, and lighting it are the same as they are for anybody.
Oddly, the same people who criticize Habitat have no problem with business being GIVEN land to build on, sometimes having the building built for them, and receiving huge tax abatements once they are up and running. Personally, I prefer giving the break to someone that really needs it.
I�m one range hood away (it wasn�t available yesterday) from finishing my tenth Habitat house. Not many by Jimmy Carter standards, but all that the local chapter has built since its inception. I think I�m the only one who has worked on all of them, and I�m proud of it. You might say it�s my verse.
