Home Ownership

All candidates must:

• attend a one hour introductory workshop where applications are provided;
• currently live in substandard or overcrowded housing;
• live in Grundy County or the village of Channahon or Braidwood;
• have stable income;
• earn no more than 60% of the area median income;
• contribute 400 “sweat equity” hours (family and friends can help);
• have the ability to pay an affordable loan

If selected, the homeowner is required to attend home ownership budgeting and maintenance sessions.

No. Habitat homeowners invest 400 hours in building their own homes, and the homes of others. Homeowners also pay for the home through a down payment and affordable loan over a 20 or 30 year term. The price of the home will not exceed 25-35% of the homeowner’s total annual income.

Total annual earnings of the potential homeowner cannot exceed 60% of the area median income. However, the potential homeowner also must have a steady income that enables him/her to pay an affordable loan.  Current total household income guidelines for Habitat is $25,590 – $51,180 for a family of four.

Our homes are built wherever we can find affordable, buildable land within the Grundy-Three Rivers Habitat boundaries. Families can turn down a site once, but they go to the end of the line before being offered a site again.

Once the house is started, it takes about 6-10 months to finish a home. Because we are an organization that is nearly all-volunteer and we rely on donated labor and materials, it can be well over a year from the time a family is selected to the time they move in.  A family mentor is assigned to the family during the wait to keep them apprised of progress.

Families put in 400 hours of volunteer service, contributing at least 100 hours before their own home is started. Immediate family members can help accumulate some of the hours. (Other volunteer service is accepted for those physically not capable of working at the site.) Volunteerism for Habitat events also counts toward the 400 total hours.