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.
Founded in 1983 as a non-profit housing organization, Atlanta Habitat built more than 1,200 homes in the City of Atlanta and Fulton County, empowering and improving the quality of life for over 4,000 individual family members.

• Atlanta Habitat builds 40-50 houses each year, making it one of the largest builders of affordable, single-family homes in Atlanta.
• 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 highest 4-star rating for fiscal management.
• Atlanta Habitat enlists and encourages volunteers from all faiths, races and economic backgrounds to provide necessary hands-on construction labor. In 2011, Atlanta Habitat recruited and managed 14,600 plus volunteers who gave nearly 133,000 hours of service.

What We Do

• Build 3-bedroom / 1 bath or 4-bedroom / 2 bath houses that are environmentally friendly and cost less to maintain. Each house is sold for approximately $100,000 with monthly mortgage payments averaging $500-$600.
• Secure sponsors—faith–based groups, businesses and civic organizations—to help underwrite the cost of building houses and to supply construction volunteers.
• Select the families, based on standard qualifications related to successful homeownership.
• Acquire land (through purchase or donations) in areas that provide sufficient lots to build several homes.  Atlanta Habitat strives to create a “critical mass” of homeowners so that entire neighborhoods show visible signs of revitalization and stability.
• Educate new homebuyers by providing 12 mandatory 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 900 loan packages. Homeowners pay no interest on their mortgages, saving them an average of $125,000 over the life of their mortgage.

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 or fall within certain exceptions
  • 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
  • Prove steady income for the past two years (must fall within established guidelines)
  • Show consistent payment histories on debts and have no bankruptcies in the last four years
  • 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 250 hours of sweat equity requirements as they transition from renters to homeowners.