How Habitat For Humanity Can Help With Your Financial Recovery

ave you lost income due to all of the coronavirus shutdowns? Or even worse, have you lost your job entirely?

In either case, your need for shelter doesn’t diminish. But how can you find a safe, affordable home if your income is low or you fear that temporary government assistance will soon run out?

One option is to become a Habitat for Humanity homeowner. And while they don’t give away homes for free, they can help you find a safe, efficient, and affordable home for a fraction of the cost while building your pride and confidence in the process.

The Advantages of Habitat Homes During Tough Times

Affordability

Paying high rent when money tight is a huge problem that many people are facing right now. Even though evictions may have been put on hold, that won’t last forever, which has many wondering what they’ll do for housing once landlords start demanding past payments.

Habitat for Humanity homes offer affordability in many ways. Their mortgage payments are often lower than average, and so are their monthly bills.

Why are Habitat homes’ bills lower than similar homes in the area? You can attribute that to the fact that they are built with efficiency and cost-effectiveness in mind, so expenses like utilities won’t spiral out of control.

Stability

By having a home you can afford through Habitat for Humanity, you don’t have to worry about constantly moving and renting from different landlords. This can help with maintaining steady employment and keeping your kids in the same schools.

Such stability is reflected through actual statistics from Habitat for Humanity that have shown the following life-changing benefits:

Children from Habitat homes go to college at a higher rate than others with similar socioeconomic backgrounds.
Habitat homeowners have a track record of gaining financial independence thanks to the program’s classes and educational resources provided during the process of acquiring a home.

Community

Through its “sweat equity” requirement where you help local volunteers build homes to qualify for housing, Habitat for Humanity builds a sense of support and community that can play a big part in accelerating your financial recovery.

Even if you don’t participate in constructing a Habitat home, taking educational classes on homeownership or performing administrative work to complete the sweat equity requirement will put you in touch with many helpful and knowledgeable members of the community.

This is one of Habitat’s most significant benefits, and it’s one that cannot be measured in dollars.

Safety

Whether it’s due to the negative impact of COVID-19 or some other disaster, you may feel unsafe and vulnerable, which can make it even harder to get your finances in order.

If you’re living in a Habitat home, however, you’ll be in a safe community that can give you the peace of mind you need to move forward.