Homeownership
The next Applicant Information Meeting (AIM) for prospective applicants will be in the fall of 2025.
Selection Process
1. In order to apply for a Habitat for Humanity house, you must attend an Applicant Information Meeting (AIM) for prospective applicants. Applications are only available at these meetings.
2. AIMs are now scheduled for specific properties on which we intend to build houses during the next 12 months. In other words, you will know—before you apply—whether we are building houses in a neighborhood in which you would like to live.
3. Each person who submits an application must sign a statement indicating the willingness to accept at least one of the properties for which the AIM is being held. Habitat will only accept applications for those specific properties announced.
4. Also, note that part of your application includes payment for a credit report which Habitat will obtain.
5. Applications are reviewed in the order we receive them. Because the number of houses we’re able to build is limited, we reserve the right to limit the number of qualified applications we will consider. Accordingly, we suggest that—before the AIM – you collect the necessary documents to be submitted with your application. These documents are paystubs and income taxes from the most recent year.
6. If your application is submitted on time and is complete, the first step of our evaluation process is your ability to pay for a house as well as meet your other financial obligations. This includes a review of your credit report.
7. If your family needs simple, decent housing, your application moves to the second step of the process: your willingness to partner with Habitat. This will involve several hours on a Saturday volunteering at a Habitat construction site followed by a meeting at the Habitat office to discuss the requirements of our partnership. If you are physically unable to do construction work, and if you have a letter from your physician stating as much, we can make alternate arrangements.
8. If you are able to pay for a Habitat house, your application moves forward to the third step of the process: your need for simple, decent, affordable housing. A Habitat team will visit briefly with all the members of your family who will live in a Habitat house in order to assess your family’s need for adequate housing.
9. Habitat will review all the information we have gathered and make recommendations about which applications to accept. For example, if a particular Applicant Information Meeting is held for three properties, then the Family Selection Committee will recommend that the applications of three families be approved.
10. The other applications will be declined... not because the families are unqualified but, rather, because Habitat does not have the resources necessary to accommodate the needs of every qualified family.
11. An applicant declined for one property is welcome to re-apply for a different property at a future date. There are also some Income Guidelines that we also follow.
Program Impacts
In Hartford 9,700 renter-households are spending more than 50% of their income on housing. Less than 25% is considered appropriate.
- 25% of Hartford’s population is considered to be below poverty level.
Homeownership Benefits to the Family:
- Affordable Home: Zero percent interest rate on the mortgage.
- Improved Education: Studies show that children of homeowners are 25% more likely than renters to graduate from high school and 116% more likely to graduate college, and 20% less likely to become teenage mothers
Homeownership Benefits to the Neighborhood:
- Stability: Studies show that homeowners live in their neighborhood 4 times longer than renters.
- Improve: Homeowners are 28% more likely to repair or improve their home.
- Engaged: Homeowners are 16% more likely to join PTOs and neighborhood block watches.
Homeownership Benefits to the Municipalities:
- Generates Taxes: Habitat converts tax-delinquent or vacant properties into tax generating properties.
- Reduces Expenses: Every time a renter becomes a homeowner, taxpayers save approximately $34,000 in public expenditures (i.e., less money spent on juvenile justice, teen pregnancy, etc.)
