If your family, or a family you know, is in need of decent affordable housing and would like to purchase a home, please contact us: 989-753-5200 x. 500
Saginaw-Shiawassee Habitat for Humanity offers opportunity for homeownership to families whose income is 30 to 80 percent of the area’s median income. A families credit does not need to be perfect, nor have a certain credit score at the beginning. We have in-house Housing Counseling and Education to help your family improve their credit to enable you to purchase a home and to give you the skills to be able to successfully maintain your home in the future.
Families are selected based on:
- Level of need
- Ability to pay an affordable mortgage
- Willingness to partner which includes taking classes in Financial Management and Budgeting, Home Maintenance, as well as performing ‘sweat equity hours’ to help build/renovate your home or the homes of others.
In most cases, prospective Saginaw-Shiawassee Habitat for Humanity families contribute 250 to 400 hours of ‘sweat equity’ on education and a total of 100 hours in the construction or rehabilitation of their home. Family and friends are able to assist the homebuyer in completing sweat equity hours.
What is sweat equity?
Sweat equity is an exciting cornerstone to the Habitat ministry designed to meet three important goals:
- Partnership – meaningful interaction between partner families, affiliate representatives and Habitat volunteers
- Pride in homeownership – Investing in sweat equity hours in their own homes helps families begin the transition to homeownership.
- Development of skills and knowledge – In the classroom families participate in Home Maintenance classes to equip them with basic skills they could use in their home in the future. Classes in Financial Management, Budgeting, Use of Credit, etc. helps the family understand what they need to do once they own their home to be able to maintain their home long-term. On the build site, partner family members gain a real understanding of the construction or rehabilitation of their home and of the maintenance issues they will face during occupancy.
Saginaw-Shiawassee Habitat for Humanity follows a non-discriminatory policy in family selection.
Application requirements
Applicants for a Habitat home must satisfy certain requirements in order to qualify for a Habitat home. One of the requirements is that the applicant meets income and credit requirements. These limits are used to qualify families using the median income for that county. The current limits can be found by clicking here. If you are ready to apply, please fill out the application.
How to Apply for a Habitat for Humanity House
- If your family, or a family you know, is in need of decent, affordable housing, please contact Saginaw-Shiawassee Habitat for Humanity at (989) 753-5200 ext. 220 or call the Habitat for Humanity affiliate closest to you. Contact information for other Habitats for Humanity in the state of Michigan may be found at http://www.habitatmichigan.org/affiliate.
- The Habitat affiliate will explain the application process and provide information on the availability, size and cost of Habitat homes in your area. Homebuyers, called “partner families” are selected by the local or county Habitat to become Habitat homeowners. Partner families are always selected based on 3 things:
- Their level of need understood as financial and other local factors.
- Their willingness to become partners in the program and perform “sweat equity hours.”
- Their ability to repay an affordable mortgage.
Saginaw-Shiawassee Habitat for Humanity follows a nondiscriminatory policy of family selection. Please see the bottom of our Home Page for our non-discrimination policy statement.
