Habitat Facts
Read our "Habitat at a Glance"
Printable Version of "Frequently Asked Questions"
Who is North St. Louis County Habitat for Humanity?
How does Habitat for Humanity work?
How are partner families selected?
WHO IS NORTH ST. LOUIS COUNTY HABITAT FOR HUMANITY?
North St. Louis County Habitat for Humanity is part of Habitat for Humanity International. Habitat for Humanity is an international, nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry, founded in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller. Habitat for Humanity Seeks to eliminate substandard housing from the world.
Our Mission
“Seeking to put God’s love into action, Habitat for Humanity brings people together to build homes, communities, and hope.”
Our Vision
“A world where everyone has a decent place to live.”
The North St. Louis County Habitat for Humanity affiliate started in 1995 after members of the community saw the need for housing in the area. To date, NSLCHFH has helped provide a ‘hand up’ out of substandard housing for over 75 families across 14 communities in North St. Louis.
Our Service Area
North St. Louis County Habitat for Humanity serves the northern half of St. Louis County in Minnesota. From the communities of Orr to Cotton, going North and South, and from the communities of Hoyt Lakes and Hibbing, going East and West. Since 1995, Habitat has served 14 communities including Aurora, Babbitt, Biwabik, Buhl, Chisholm, Cook, Embarrass, Ely, Eveleth, Hibbing, Mt. Iron, Tower, Soudan, and Virginia.
Habitat for Humanity has an ‘open door’ policy: All who believe that everyone needs a decent, affordable place to live are welcome to help with the work, regardless of race, religion, age, gender, political views or any of the distinctions that too often divide people. In short, Habitat for Humanity welcomes volunteers and supporters from all backgrounds and also serves people in need of decent housing regardless of race or religion. As a matter of policy, Habitat for Humanity International and its affiliated organizations do not proselytize. This means that Habitat will not offer assistance on the expressed or implied condition that people must either adhere to or convert to a particular faith, or listen and respond to messaging designed to induce conversion to a particular faith.
North St. Louis County Habitat for Humanity follows the core believe and understandings that Habitat for Humanity International has set into place. To view the "Core Documents" sent out by Habitat for Humanity International, click here.
Habitat for Humanity is an equal housing lender.
HOW DOES HABITAT FOR HUMANITY WORK?
Habitat works through volunteer expertise in building house, volunteer labor, and tax-deductible donations of money and materials. Habitat’s objective is simple: build simple, decent, affordable and energy efficient homes for families in need of safe housing.
Habitat is not a give-away program. We build with families, not for families. In addition to a small down payment and affordable monthly mortgage payments, each adult homeowner family member invest at least 200 hours of their own labor (“sweat equity”) into building their own home and other future Habitat homes.
HOW ARE PARTNER FAMILIES SELECTED?
What is a family? For our homeownership program, we define a family as at least one person.
Families are selected based on three criteria:
· Need for housing
· Ability to pay back an affordable 30 year mortgage
· Willingness to partner with NSLCHFH
Families apply through the North St. Louis County Habitat for Humanity office. Once the application is completed and turned in to the office, it then goes to the Family Selection committee. The committee then reviews the application and selects families based on the three criteria.
More information about the home ownership program can be found by clicking here.
Donations of materials, land, funds or professional labor to North St. Louis County Habitat for Humanity go primarily to build homes in our local communities. As an organization costs money to run, a small portion of our funding does go to running our local affiliate. Our motto is building homes, “simple, decent, and affordable”, also carries over to our administrative expenses.
Partner families are not given a Habitat home. They work in partnership with habitat by providing ‘Sweat equity” and also paying back the cost of the home to Habitat in an affordable 30 year mortgage. The mortgage payments are put back into a revolving fun for the home building program. The mortgage payments are able to fund on new home construction.
Materials and professional labor are items that would need to be purchased if not donated. In cases where materials or professional labor have been donated, the basic value of these donations are charged to the mortgage and recuperated over 30 years to be used over and over again in the building program. To learn more about what we accept as donations and how to donate, click here.
As a Christian organization, our affiliate also gives a tithe of our undesignated donations to go directly to building homes in Mexico. As a result of this tithe, for every family that is served in North St. Louis County, a family in Mexico is also served.
North St. Louis County Habitat for Humanity is a volunteer organization run by and all-volunteer governing board and volunteer committees. Staff are employed to support the committees as they carry out Habitat’s mission to build affordable homes with families in need of housing in North St. Louis County. In 2015, 86.9% of all funds raised were used for home construction, 7.6% were used for administration and 5.4% was used for fundraising.
An important key factor for NSLCHFH is our partners. We partner with not only the families but with communities, churches, business, organizations, and individuals to make home ownership a reality for families in need. Without the support from these groups and individuals like you, Habitat for Humanity’s mission of eliminating poverty housing would never be attained.
North St. Louis County Habitat for Humanity, as an affiliate, maintains standards set by Habitat International and, in turn receives information and training from it; but the affiliate is primarily responsible for all other aspects of its work. One of Habitat International’s requirements is that an affiliate tithe ten percent of its undesignated funding to help build houses in other countries, usually at a much lower cost than is possible in the United States. NSLCHFH has chosen to have its tithe sent to Habitat Mexico. For each family that is served in North St. Louis County, a family in Mexico is also served.
Each affiliate must also abide by state and national requirements for non-profit organizations. North St. Louis County Habitat for Humanity has bet and is complying with these requirements.
Still have questions about Habitat? Then call the office at 218-749-8910 or email us at habitat@nslchfh.org and we will answer them for you.