Houston County Habitat for Humanity

Mission Statement: Seeking to put God’s love into action. Habitat for Humanity brings people together to build homes, communities, and, hope for low and medium-income families.

Houston County Habitat for Humanity is a Christian-based home-building ministry that partners with approximately 700 low and medium-income people in our local community and 46 families internationally, helping them build or improve a place they can all call home.

Working alongside volunteers, Habitat homeowners put down an affordable down payment and then put in hundreds of “sweat equity” hours as they help build their own homes. Homeowners then purchase their home and pay an affordable zero-interest mortgage. The self-empowerment created by this opportunity helps homeowner families eliminate barriers to a better, healthier, and more financially stable life. We believe that no one lives with dignity until everyone can live in dignity. 

STATEMENT OF NEED

Our affiliate here in Houston County Georgia now has the capacity to build 5-6 houses a year. Our last homeowner information meeting held in January 2022 resulted in more than 100 applicants, leaving 97 people without a solution. Many of the families in our current pipeline represent the front-line workers who are fulfilling essential duties in at-risk industries during this post-COVID-19 environment. These are the individuals bagging groceries, delivering packages, preparing food, and working in hospitals. Your grant gift will directly support these families working hard toward their homeownership opportunity.

Data research determined the need for affordable housing in Houston County to be as follows: 

• Approximately 16.7% of the population live below the poverty line, a number that is higher than the national average of 13.1%

• Nearly 40% receive government assistance
• Women lead the largest demographic living below the poverty line
• Approximately 48% of students receive reduced-rate school lunches
• 35.6% of housing is renter occupied and 40% of those renters are cost-burdened
• There is a 1 - 2 ½ year wait for subsidized housing in Houston County

• According to the Housing Assistance Council (HAC), Houston County has 17,621 disabled veterans living in poverty and 1,146 that live below the poverty level. 

In Houston County Georgia, and specifically in Warner Robins, we have many families with a single wage-earner performing a low wage, but an essential job for our community. However, they are unable to “afford” housing.  For housing expenses to be “affordable” they must consume no more than 30% of a family’s monthly income. Upon completion of the home build, we sell the house to the partner family for our cost and we finance the purchase price over 20 years with a zero-interest loan. 

• Since its inception in 1991, Houston County Habitat has had a 0% foreclosure rate.
• Habitat's Home Repair and Aging in Place Programs: We have assisted more than 250 Houston County homeowners needing critical home preservation and repair help.
• Habitat’s Neighborhood Revitalization of Wellston Villas: Transforming “Old Town” with over 32 homes since 2005
• Habitat ReStore: Our thrift store diverts tons of used furniture, housewares, and other homeowner items headed to the landfill each year to homes of those in need of such items.
• Partnerships with Local Non-Profits: We partner with many local non-profits, churches, and schools to address issues of affordable housing, hunger, education, and poverty through various community initiatives and events throughout the year.
• International Tithing: Houston County Habitat has provided homes for more than 46 families in various foreign countries. We recognize that limited access to affordable housing is not just a local problem, but also one that affects people around the world. To build a more united global community, we contribute to Habitat for Humanity International’s global initiative each year.

 COMMUNITY IMPACT: 

A 2016 Economic Impact Study commissioned by Middle Georgia State University concerning Houston County Habitat found the following: 

• Over 8 million dollars in total economic impact
• Over $600,000 in additional property taxes were paid by Habitat homeowners
• 76 jobs were created
• Over two million dollars spent locally on building materials

Today, we are building for families like Chimere.  As a child, she grew up in a low-income single-parent home.  They were sometimes homeless and moved 19 times by the time she was the age of 17 years old.  Now as an adult, she is determined to break the cycle of poverty with affordable homeownership and give her children the life she did not get to experience as a child.  Thanks to individuals like you, her dream will soon become a reality.

Only with community supporters like you, is Habitat for Humanity's global mission able to help more than 29 million people build or improve the place they can call home.  When donors generously give to Houston County Habitat to build a home it is transforming lives for the better, and for that, we are forever grateful.