Press Kit

Mission

Atlanta Habitat for Humanity partners with working families, sponsors and communities to build affordable, green, quality homes and to provide support services that promote successful home purchase and ownership.

About Atlanta Habitat

Founded in 1983 as a non-profit housing organization, Atlanta Habitat built 940 homes 1983 - 2007 in the City of Atlanta and Fulton County, empowering and improving the quality of life for approximately 3,200 individual family members.

• Atlanta Habitat builds 50-60 houses each year, making it one of the largest builders of affordable, single-family homes in Atlanta.  In 2008, Atlanta Habitat will reach an important milestone, the construction of its 1,000^th and 1,001^st houses.
• Since 2008, Atlanta Habitat has been able to serve families in 10 metro Atlanta counties, including Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Dawson, DeKalb, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, and Henry.
• Atlanta Habitat spends approximately 85 cents of every dollar donated directly on homebuilding and homeowner programs and services, and has earned Charity Navigator’s top 4-star rating in Organizational Efficiency.
• Atlanta Habitat enlists and encourages volunteers from all faiths, races and economic backgrounds to provide necessary hands-on construction labor. In 2007, Atlanta Habitat recruited and managed 13,500 plus volunteers who gave time valued at more than $2.6 million.

What We Do

• Build 3-bedroom / 1 bath houses and 4-bedroom / 2 bath houses. Each house is sold for approximately $100,000 with monthly mortgage payments less than $600.
• Build green, environmentally friendly homes that cost less to maintain.
• Select the family, prepare the site and supervise the volunteers who build each house.
• Secure sponsors—faith–based groups, businesses and civic organizations—to help underwrite the cost of building houses and to supply construction volunteers.
• Acquire land (through purchase or donations) in areas that provide sufficient lots to build several homes.  The organization strives to create a “critical mass” of homeowners so that entire neighborhoods show visible signs of revitalization and stability.
• Educate new homebuyers by requiring them to attend 12 education classes offering instruction in home maintenance, budgeting, community involvement and more. These classes are open to all Atlanta Habitat homeowners.
• Operate the ReStore, a retail home improvement outlet store in Grant Park that raises revenue to build more homes.
• Provide and service no-interest loans for all Atlanta Habitat homeowners – currently more than 825 loan packages.

How We Do It

• Sponsoring organizations underwrite a portion of direct construction costs. Donations, foundations, special events, product sales, ReStore sales, and homebuyer mortgage payments provide additional funds for land acquisition, site development, construction, homebuyer programs and services, and general operations.
• Applicants are required to meet several qualifications to ensure success.  Prospective homebuyers must:
  • Be first-time homebuyers;
  • Be citizens or legal residents and have lived or worked in the City of Atlanta or one of 10 metro Atlanta counties for one year;
  • Have at least two, but no more than eight, people in the household;
  • Show good credit—no bankruptcies, repossessions or outstanding delinquent balances;
  • Have monthly income that falls within minimum and maximum limits, depending on household size;
  • Sustain a savings account over six months with a minimum balance of $200.
• Homebuyers enter a one-year lease before purchasing their home. During this year, homebuyers attend Home Smart, the Atlanta Habitat education program, and satisfy sweat equity requirements as they transition from renters to homeowners.