Home Ownership

Can You Qualify For a Habitat Home?

The mission of Topeka Habitat for Humanity is to provide safe, affordable housing for families in need. Habitat houses are built primarily by volunteer labor and sold for cost of materials and contracted labor with a no-interest mortgage. Current costs are approximately $80,000 to $85,000 for a new home. To qualify for a home, individuals have to meet income guidelines (listed below) and demonstrate financial responsibility.

Requirements:

• Pay a one time $20 application fee to check credit history
• Complete a Topeka Habitat housing application; attach copies of your last two Federal Income Tax returns
• Attend one housing and credit counseling class (cost is $35)
• Complete 200 hours of “sweat equity” by building a Habitat house or working on a Habitat project
• Demonstrate the ability to pay a $550 monthly mortgage payment
• Pay $1000 for closing costs on the mortgage

 2012 HUD Median Annual Family Income Limits (60% of Area Median Income)

For more information about becoming a Habitat homeowner call Lynnette Potter (785) 234-4322 to participate in our pre-screening process.

Or, you may visit our offices at:

Topeka Habitat for Humanity
2907  S.W. Topeka Blvd.
Topeka, Kansas 66611

Becoming a Homeowner

Selecting Perfect Families
by Millard Fuller, founder and president of Habitat for Humanity

Choosing the families to own and occupy Habitat for Humanity houses is one of the most difficult and challenging aspects of this ministry. How can the best, and most deserving, families be located and selected for the houses to be built or renovated by local Habitat affiliates? [...] I often have said that the Family Selection Committee is the most important one in Habitat for Humanity. I say that because Habitat is a people-centered work, and not merely a house-building organization. We are about people-building and community-building as well as house-building. But how can right choices be made in selecting the families? How can absolutely ideal families be found and chosen? The answer is wisdom. There is no substitute. A wise, thoughtful process is an absolute prerequisite to choosing the right families. Let me review some of the basics of the process.

First, families should be chosen who are living in inadequate or substandard conditions. Such circumstances may be caused by overcrowding or by the deplorable physical conditions of the dwelling, or some other factors that constitute “inadequate or substandard” living conditions.

Next, the families must have incomes that are too low to enable them to secure conventional financing from a bank or other traditional lending institution, but sufficient for them to make the monthly payments required on the no-profit, no-interest Habitat mortgage.

Finally, families must be willing to fulfill the requirements of Habitat homeownership by putting in the mandatory “sweat-equity” hours in building their own houses and other Habitat houses. And, the families must be willing to be good stewards of the houses after they move in.