Almost Heaven Habitat for Humanity, Inc., is a Christian housing ministry that seeks to eliminate substandard housing in Greenbrier County and make homeownership a reality for families in our community. By having families and volunteers work together in equal partnership, Habitat focuses on building homes and community. Habitat looks for people who are willing to work on other families' homes and their own, who will be responsible about their house payments and home maintenance, and who will share the good news of Habitat's ministry with the greater community.

Through volunteer labor, donated materials and funds, Habitat builds houses with the help of the homeowner(s), or partner family, and volunteers. While the labor is free of charge to the partner families, the cost of the building materials and any contracted labor is repaid to the affiliate by the families via low, monthly mortgage payments. These payments are placed into the revolving "Fund for Humanity," which is used to build even more homes in Greenbrier County!

Habitat is not a charity, it is a partnership. In addition to making monthly mortgage payments, each able-bodied family member is required to invest 270 hours of "sweat equity" into their home. This means working on anything from framing to painting, shingling to landscaping. Homeowners are required to spend 30 hours of the 270 on someone else's build or on other community and affiliate projects. This keeps the cost of the house down and increases the sense of pride and ownership for our partner families. The monthly payments and sweat equity are equally important in becoming full partners with Habitat for Humanity.

Our partner families recognize the public nature of Habitat for Humanity. Newspapers, social media, television stations, and radio stations are very important in sharing Habitat’s ministry with the community. They help educate people about the ideas that motivate our homeownership program. It is important, therefore, that our families are willing to help spread the word about Habitat. The more people who know about Habitat and are excited about it, the more houses we can build together!

Almost Heaven Habitat selects partner families based on need, ability to repay the cost of the house, and willingness to partner as criteria for selecting partner families. We’ve provided explanations below help clarify these criteria.

• Potential Habitat homeowners have a critical housing need. Habitat homebuyers might be dealing with poorly maintained, unhealthy, or overcrowded housing; unaffordable rent; inaccessible housing for people with disabilities; or have other shelter needs.

• Habitat families are not able to buy a house using conventional methods. Habitat applicants must demonstrate they have applied to a bank for a loan to build a house and have been rejected by the bank and for what reasons.

• Habitat families can afford to pay between $300 and $500 each month in mortgage payments. Families are required to pay for the cost of the building materials, any contracted labor, and any legal fees involved in their project. These payments are due the first of each month and are expected to be on time.

• Habitat families are comfortable with Habitat's philosophy and mission. Habitat is a Christian housing ministry. While Habitat does not discriminate on the basis of religion, it does expect homeowners to understand its position and to participate fully in its program.

• Habitat families are willing to work on their own homes and at least one other Habitat project. Part of being a partner family is working on your own house. It is expected that when volunteers are working on a family's house, the homeowners, whenever possible, are working alongside the volunteers and not merely watching. Almost Heaven Habitat requires a family to log a minimum of 270 hours of "sweat equity" per able-bodied adult on their own house and a minimum of 30 hours on someone else's.

After a family has completed the application process, the Selection Committee will use the aforementioned criteria to choose a partner family.

Please be prepared to be patient with this process. Many factors beyond the control of Habitat staff and Board of Directors affect the application and building process. Because we must rely heavily on volunteer labor, because we need financial donations to fund our building, and because of a host of other factors like weather, land availability, etc., the work schedule is unpredictable. Selection for a new house will take place only as land, money and materials are available, so it may take some time.