Habitat For Humanity International
Millard Fuller, President
Mark Lassman-Eul, Training
121 Habitat St.
Americus, Ga. 31709
(912) 924-6935
(912) 924-6541 fax

There's a reason why Habitat for Humanity's new headquarters on a residential street corner in a rather modest neighborhood of Americus, Georgia, looks a lot like a modern townhouse development: It was planned that way.

"If we ever outgrow this building and build another headquarters," explained Mark Lassman-Eul, "We can easily turn this one into housing for people."

A simple thing, perhaps, but it says much about Habitat, a world-wide program that started with a simple idea and that, sometime this April, will turn over to a Georgia family the 20,000th housing unit it has built or facilitated in the United States and world-wide.

The "Habitat model," which by its example has also inspired many more independent low-income housing programs around the country, is based on very simple premises: It takes what its organizers call a "two-pronged approach," seeking cash and help from affluent supporters and the participation of low-income beneficiaries to build decent, low-cost housing, without government participation, as a consciously Christian ministry that bears witness by work, not evangelism.

Although Habitat directly funds a few projects, mostly overseas, it primarily spreads its efforts through "affiliation," lending its name and technical advice to independent, community-based non-profit groups that adopt, and sometimes considerably adapt, its model to suit local housing needs and opportunities.

Millard Fuller, an Alabama attorney and entrepreneur who became a millionaire while still in his 20s, "gave it up and started over" in midlife, joining forces with the Baptist biblical scholar Clarence Jordan at Koinonia Farms, a communal, biracial experiment operated near Americus.

Jordan and Fuller hit it off at once, and before long came up with the idea of helping poor people get into decent housing through what they called "partnership housing," in which well-to-do people would donate cash and labor, working alongside poor people who would also contribute "sweat equity" to build a small house, then repay the debt over 7 to 20 years, with no profit and no interest. The proceeds go into a "Fund for Humanity," a revolving fund used to finance additional houses.

The idea hit a responsive chord with regional church people, and the poor, and it wasn't long before they'd built about 40 homes around the Sumter County farm and in Americus. Later, the Fullers went to Mbandaka, Zaire, where they exported the "partnership housing" model to Central Africa.

In 1976, recognizing that the international housing project had become a full-time project, Fuller formally incorporated Habitat for Humanity, which grew slowly, never departing from its essential model. But grow it did, and publicity started to trickle in, particularly after Fuller published a book, "Love in the Mortar Joints," and by the end of the decade, Habitat's related programs had grown to about 50 in the United States and another 15 or 20 overseas.

Then, in the early '80s, the group mounted explicit efforts to gain national publicity. A 700-mile walk from Americus to Indianapolis attracted the media. Then, in 1984, the group got its big break when former President Jimmy Carter, a neighbor in nearby Plains, put on his blue jeans, grabbed a hammer and went to work on a project in New York City's Lower East Side in 1984.

Habitat signed on the 100th U.S. affiliate in 1985, and is now up to more than 800 (and another 100 overseas), and growing fast.

Affiliates are expected to raise their own funds, and they're largely autonomous. They must be non-profit, with a board of directors representative of the community; must agree to charge no interest, and accept no federal funds in their housing projects. Habitat supplies, in addition to the credibility that comes with the use of its name, a ready-made model, house plans, and considerable technical assistance; however, local groups are not required to use its specific plans or follow the model precisely, as long as they adhere to Habitat's general principles.

Specific criteria for eligibility are variable, but follow three essential principles: The family must be in need, currently in inadequate housing and without other alternatives; it must have some limited ability to pay a monthly housing bill, although this may be very small; and it must be willing to "partner," either through "sweat equity" in building its own house, or working at other needed tasks for the local Habitat affiliate.

Habitat's houses in the U.S. cost an average of $35,000, with labor costs of essentially zero. Every Habitat community is a little different, but the neighborhood surrounding its headquarters in Americus is probably as typical as any. It's a very average looking neighborhood, or at least so it seems at first. The houses are small, but they're trim and well kept, with fresh pastel colors and neat lawns. It has the look of a community with pride.

All the feature stories on @GRASS-ROOTS.ORG's pages are reported and written by Robin Garr, a prize-winning journalist who has visited more than 500 innovative grassroots programs in all 50 states since 1990.

Browse his book, Reinvesting In America, at Amazon.com.

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