Detailed Requirements

There are 3 basic criteria used to select families for a Habitat home:

Need for Adequate Shelter

We choose families that are currently living in inadequate or substandard housing. Factors used in making this determination include the physical condition of your current housing, overcrowding, children of different sexes sharing one bedroom, paying an excessive amount of your income for housing, or living in an unsafe environment. 

Ability to Pay

 Ability to pay is also based on a review of your current financial condition. We need to establish that you are financially sound, have a satisfactory credit report, have a plan for satisfying any outstanding debts, and have a stable income, or employment history. Your credit report does not have to be perfect, but because we count on the repayments to fund the new houses we build- but it does matter. Finally, we need establish that you will be capable of paying a cash down payment of about $1800-$2500 to cover the first year’s insurance on your new home.

Qualifying annual income limits (see table below) are based on current income limits for Payne County as determined by United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). For more information, visit HUD’s website.

Willingness to Partner

The final criterion that we consider in the family selection process is your willingness to partner with Habitat. You are not our client, customer, or patient. You are our partner and we are in this together. We want you to succeed.

The factors we consider in assessing your willingness to partner include the completion of our “sweat equity” requirements and your willingness to attend homebuyer education classes, credit counseling sessions, or other designated classes if we think they are necessary for your success.

 Sweat equity refers to your willingness to contribute a minimum number of hours volunteering with Habitat. Generally, this requires a married couple to work a total of 300 hours or a single person to work for 200 hours. A minimum of 100 hours must be devoted to actual construction of a Habitat house. Not all the construction hours require heavy labor. There are many activities at the job site that can be very beneficial to our builders. Non-construction related hours can take the form of working at our ReStore, or attending classes that we have recommended.