Is there a dark side to Habitat for Humanity
October 20, 2017 1:54 PM Subscribe
Religious beliefs aside, I have heard from several cities that Habitat for Humanity only works when people have jobs and can make payments on their newly renovated houses...
Does anyone have experience with the "big picture" when it comes to Habitat?
btw, not looking for an axe to grind, just wanted to see if there were downsides.
Response by poster: Thank you for that insight-
posted by Mr. Metaphor at 2:10 PM on October 20, 2017
posted by Mr. Metaphor at 2:10 PM on October 20, 2017
Most of your questions can be answered on their FAQ page.
There is no 'dark side'. Habitat raises funds in order to make home-ownership more affordable. You have to demonstrate need, but also ability to keep up with the mortgage (which will be cheaper by comparison than regular housing). You also spend time building the house you will live in, they call it 'sweat equity' and eventually you will own it outright after paying off the mortgage, like any house. None of this is a secret or done discretely. It's their whole MO.
From their page:
Habitat homeowners must be active participants in building a better home and future for themselves and their families. Every Habitat home is an investment. For us, it is one answer to a critical need, and we believe that stronger homes will create stronger communities.
Prospective Habitat homeowners must demonstrate a need for safe, affordable housing. Need will vary from community to community.
Once selected, Habitat homeowners must partner with us throughout the process. This partnership includes performing “sweat equity,” or helping to build their own home or the homes of others in our homeownership program. Sweat equity can also include taking homeownership classes or performing volunteer work in a Habitat ReStore.
Homeowners must also be able and willing to pay an affordable mortgage. Mortgage payments are cycled back into the community to help build additional Habitat houses.
posted by greta simone at 2:12 PM on October 20, 2017 [7 favorites]
There is no 'dark side'. Habitat raises funds in order to make home-ownership more affordable. You have to demonstrate need, but also ability to keep up with the mortgage (which will be cheaper by comparison than regular housing). You also spend time building the house you will live in, they call it 'sweat equity' and eventually you will own it outright after paying off the mortgage, like any house. None of this is a secret or done discretely. It's their whole MO.
From their page:
Habitat homeowners must be active participants in building a better home and future for themselves and their families. Every Habitat home is an investment. For us, it is one answer to a critical need, and we believe that stronger homes will create stronger communities.
Prospective Habitat homeowners must demonstrate a need for safe, affordable housing. Need will vary from community to community.
Once selected, Habitat homeowners must partner with us throughout the process. This partnership includes performing “sweat equity,” or helping to build their own home or the homes of others in our homeownership program. Sweat equity can also include taking homeownership classes or performing volunteer work in a Habitat ReStore.
Homeowners must also be able and willing to pay an affordable mortgage. Mortgage payments are cycled back into the community to help build additional Habitat houses.
posted by greta simone at 2:12 PM on October 20, 2017 [7 favorites]
It would probably help if you understand what they do? Because it's a way to help lower-income people afford to buy a home, it isn't giving away free homes. You have to have an income to buy a house or pay for a remodel. There's nothing underhanded about that.
Each local Habitat’s family selection committee selects homeowners based on three criteria:
The applicant’s level of need.
Their willingness to partner with Habitat.
Their ability to repay a mortgage through an affordable payment plan.
As part of their willingness to partner, Habitat’s homebuyers invest hundreds of hours of their own labor, called sweat equity, working alongside volunteers and other Habitat homeowners.
You may actually thinking of "free" renovation reality TV shows, in which the homeowner is stuck with increased property taxes, usually a bunch more square footage to climate control/clean/maintain, and they end up with a house that's too big and too remodeled for the rest of the neighborhood so it'll never sell for its paper-value price. It's a crappy tradeoff for being someone's inspirational ad-selling vehicle.
posted by Lyn Never at 2:14 PM on October 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
Each local Habitat’s family selection committee selects homeowners based on three criteria:
The applicant’s level of need.
Their willingness to partner with Habitat.
Their ability to repay a mortgage through an affordable payment plan.
As part of their willingness to partner, Habitat’s homebuyers invest hundreds of hours of their own labor, called sweat equity, working alongside volunteers and other Habitat homeowners.
You may actually thinking of "free" renovation reality TV shows, in which the homeowner is stuck with increased property taxes, usually a bunch more square footage to climate control/clean/maintain, and they end up with a house that's too big and too remodeled for the rest of the neighborhood so it'll never sell for its paper-value price. It's a crappy tradeoff for being someone's inspirational ad-selling vehicle.
posted by Lyn Never at 2:14 PM on October 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
I have a distant relative who was able to build and buy a home through either this or another program. It was really great for her. Eventually she got cancer, was unable to work, and had to leave her home because she could no longer work. So yeah, programs like this aren't a guarantee that the folks who get the homes get to keep them forever but nobody gets that guarantee and it was really great for her while it lasted. And she worked her ass off. Her sweat equity was a real and measurable contribution to the building of her home.
posted by Bella Donna at 2:18 PM on October 20, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by Bella Donna at 2:18 PM on October 20, 2017 [5 favorites]
Religious beliefs aside
I know that the national organization has a religious element to it's mission, but I've worked on multiple Habitat builds, and never once has religion been brought up. I did hear someone ask a build manager about it once, and he laughed and replied, "We're all just atheists who love power tools."
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 2:39 PM on October 20, 2017 [16 favorites]
I know that the national organization has a religious element to it's mission, but I've worked on multiple Habitat builds, and never once has religion been brought up. I did hear someone ask a build manager about it once, and he laughed and replied, "We're all just atheists who love power tools."
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 2:39 PM on October 20, 2017 [16 favorites]
I'm sorry, but since you brought it up:
only works when people have jobs and can make payments on their newly renovated houses...
That's the only way homeownership works for anyone. I'm sorry to be brusque.
posted by humboldt32 at 3:12 PM on October 20, 2017 [8 favorites]
only works when people have jobs and can make payments on their newly renovated houses...
That's the only way homeownership works for anyone. I'm sorry to be brusque.
posted by humboldt32 at 3:12 PM on October 20, 2017 [8 favorites]
Like most charities they need to prove that they are not pouring money into holes. They need a high success rate to get grants and donations cause people won't and shouldn't support pouring money into holes.
They don't give away houses to people who can't keep them.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 3:19 PM on October 20, 2017
They don't give away houses to people who can't keep them.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 3:19 PM on October 20, 2017
An important concept re: H4H is "sweat equity." Habitat doesn't give people houses. Habitat helps people build homes and become homeowners. I think to become a homeowner, you're required to spend to give 500 hours of sweat equity, whether that's by working on your own home or other means. Low-income people are unlikely to be able to save up to make a down payment on a home so sweat equity is the down payment. So sure, it's not going to help everyone but few things do.
posted by kat518 at 3:20 PM on October 20, 2017
posted by kat518 at 3:20 PM on October 20, 2017
Habitat is pretty active in my region, and in general I concur that there's not really a downside to Habitat beyond the normal risks of homeownership. Habitat serves a relatively narrow clientele-- lowish-to-moderate income households that have decent credit and a stable income (because they have to be able to qualify for a standard bank mortgage) and are willing and able to perform labor (the above-referenced sweat equity).
The main thing Habitat gets its clients is a safe and decent house that they will own at a price that is significantly below the market price for a similar property. It's not a program that works for high-barrier households, extremely low-income households, households with spotty employment or terrible credit-- but that's not their clientele. Habitat isn't intended to serve people who need permanent supportive housing or will have significant ongoing service needs, and building homeownership units for those high-barrier households would be prohibitively expensive anyway. Habitat's clients just need a little help, and are often sufficiently moderate-income that they don't qualify for some of the more intensive assistance programs-- like, I think my local Habitat generally serves clients at 60-80% MFI-- and those households wouldn't have low enough incomes to get onto the waitlist for rental assistance.
My regional Habitat organizations all have waiting lists. It's a program that can be extremely beneficial to the relatively small number of folks it's able to serve. There are certainly more people who could benefit from Habitat (or a similar ownership model) that those organizations are able to serve-- but that's true of basically all forms of housing assistance and social services these days.
posted by Kpele at 3:23 PM on October 20, 2017 [4 favorites]
The main thing Habitat gets its clients is a safe and decent house that they will own at a price that is significantly below the market price for a similar property. It's not a program that works for high-barrier households, extremely low-income households, households with spotty employment or terrible credit-- but that's not their clientele. Habitat isn't intended to serve people who need permanent supportive housing or will have significant ongoing service needs, and building homeownership units for those high-barrier households would be prohibitively expensive anyway. Habitat's clients just need a little help, and are often sufficiently moderate-income that they don't qualify for some of the more intensive assistance programs-- like, I think my local Habitat generally serves clients at 60-80% MFI-- and those households wouldn't have low enough incomes to get onto the waitlist for rental assistance.
My regional Habitat organizations all have waiting lists. It's a program that can be extremely beneficial to the relatively small number of folks it's able to serve. There are certainly more people who could benefit from Habitat (or a similar ownership model) that those organizations are able to serve-- but that's true of basically all forms of housing assistance and social services these days.
posted by Kpele at 3:23 PM on October 20, 2017 [4 favorites]
Part of the "big picture" of Habitat for Humanity includes the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store. When contractors do renovations they'll donate cabinet sets, fixtures, doors, windows, etc. to H4H and get the tax write off. Additionally if they order too much floor tile and Home Depot is going to charge a re-stocking fee, they donate those kinds of things as well. All the proceeds go to support the H4H mission. As a homeowner, I've found some terrific bargains there. Its also pretty cool that my local H4H Re-Store employs several mentally challenged people who enjoy working there.
posted by NoraCharles at 3:52 PM on October 20, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by NoraCharles at 3:52 PM on October 20, 2017 [6 favorites]
I don't have time to link you right now, but look into the mortgage terms and the ability of owners to sell/rent out their homes. This tends to be the biggest area of criticisms
posted by atomicstone at 4:09 PM on October 20, 2017
posted by atomicstone at 4:09 PM on October 20, 2017
Homeowners can sell HFH homes, but it is a bit complicated. For our region, there are two mortgages on the home. The first is interest-free with affordable payments, and is a portion of the total value of the home. The second is held by HFH and represents the value that would be taxed if given as a gift. This is due to tax laws. The homeowner doesn’t pay this second mortgage until the house is sold. Both mortgages together are the market value of the home at the time of the sale.
posted by bighappyhairydog at 6:08 PM on October 20, 2017
posted by bighappyhairydog at 6:08 PM on October 20, 2017
I worked for a Habitat for a year in the early 2000s. The dark side I saw was when I attended a selection committee meeting to pick which family would get the newest home being built. There were some ... concerning statements made regarding the religious activities (Or lack thereof) of the finalists as well as their marital status (or lack thereof), and I had an uncomfortable feeling about the racially based undertones (aka it seemed like the committee members, all white, were thinking of reasons to make sure the white applicants rose to the top). At the time I was there I think about 30 homes had been built in the (relatively diverse) service area and only one of the families were POC. So... this is just my experience and I hope things have changed... but... yeah.
Oh and at the same time I worked there it came out that the founder Millard Fuller, who has since passed away, had not been as decent with women as he had been with affordable housing, and was fired as president.
posted by wannabecounselor at 2:34 AM on October 21, 2017 [3 favorites]
Oh and at the same time I worked there it came out that the founder Millard Fuller, who has since passed away, had not been as decent with women as he had been with affordable housing, and was fired as president.
posted by wannabecounselor at 2:34 AM on October 21, 2017 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: Guys, I love the comments... I do have a ReStore in my city and plan to support their efforts-
posted by Mr. Metaphor at 6:54 AM on October 21, 2017
posted by Mr. Metaphor at 6:54 AM on October 21, 2017
Like all large organizations, the effectiveness of the local group varies. It's worth asking people in other local non-profits how effective your local Habitat for Humanity group is. I have a friend who works with helping Habitat groups become more effective, so I know that some are less so than others.
And by effective, I mean good on whatever scale you're using: honestly, quality of work, helping families transition to home-ownership, etc.
To be clear, I'm a fan of Habitat.
posted by willF at 2:47 PM on October 21, 2017
And by effective, I mean good on whatever scale you're using: honestly, quality of work, helping families transition to home-ownership, etc.
To be clear, I'm a fan of Habitat.
posted by willF at 2:47 PM on October 21, 2017
I think HforH is a great national organization that can have some problematic differences dependant on the regional center in which it's based. I supported them for years in NYC, never saw anything I didn't like, moved to the DC area and found an immediate difference in the mailings and contacts I received - far more Evangelical Christian (and the false assumption that I supported that mission), far more blatant about it being a faith-based initiative. When I let them know I didn't welcome being sent a gold cross necklace as a thank you (for example), they told me that maybe I didn't understand their mission. I didn't see direct evidence that they proselytized or based home-building on a Christian litmus test, but it sure felt that way. So for me, there was no "religious beliefs aside" and I have a hard time supporting them in light of that.
posted by Mchelly at 6:05 PM on October 21, 2017
posted by Mchelly at 6:05 PM on October 21, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
And if you're a chaotic, low-skills household, providing you a house doesn't magically make you capable of maintaining it--which can be a complex and expensive task--either in terms of know-how or in terms of mental resources to attend to long-term tasks.
I don't know if that's a "dark side" so much as an inevitable limitation on any program that aims for self-sufficiency in homeownership rather than anticipating permanent extensive support for the families and control over the housing.
posted by praemunire at 2:06 PM on October 20, 2017 [14 favorites]