Habitat for Humanity International

Habitat for Humanity International, nonprofit Christian organization that seeks to eliminate substandard housing and homelessness by building affordable homes for low-income families. Founded in 1976, the organization has built more than 150,000 houses worldwide. The organization has its headquarters in Americus, Georgia, and has affiliates in more than 85 countries.

To provide adequate housing to families in need, Habitat for Humanity relies on volunteers and the families themselves to participate in the construction of new homes or renovation of existing homes. Qualifying families must invest hundreds of hours of their own labor into building their house, a requirement known as “sweat equity.” Houses are sold to families at no profit and financed with affordable, interest-free loans. Money from the sale of each house and from families’ monthly mortgage payments funds other Habitat for Humanity building projects. Although Habitat for Humanity is a Christian organization, volunteers and participating families may be of any religious background.

Habitat for Humanity was founded by former businessman Millard Fuller and his wife, Linda. In the mid-1960s, Fuller had become a millionaire through various business ventures, including apartment rentals and mail-order sales of tractor cushions, cookbooks, and Christmas decorations. In 1965 he decided to give away his fortune to charities. In the late 1960s the Fullers went to live at Koinonia Farm, a Christian farming community near Americus, Georgia. They joined with the founder of Koinonia, Baptist minister Clarence Jordan, to help poor, rural residents build and own their own homes. That project inspired the Fullers to move in 1973 to Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) to apply the same model there. They returned to Georgia three years later to found Habitat for Humanity.

In 1984 former U.S. president Jimmy Carter became involved with Habitat for Humanity, leading a work group in the renovation of a building in New York City. That project provided national exposure for the organization and prompted Carter and Habitat for Humanity to sponsor the Jimmy Carter Work Project, established to build homes and call attention to the issue of substandard housing.

Partly as a result of the exposure brought about by Carter’s involvement, Habitat for Humanity grew dramatically. By the end of the decade it had affiliates in nearly 300 cities in the United States and Canada and in more than 30 developing countries. By the late 1990s it was one of the largest homebuilders in the United States.

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