Habitat for Humanity in the Wall Street Journal

Habitat for Humanity was recently highlighted in the Wall Street Journal for having a very low foreclosure rate. At a time when foreclosures are common place, this is another example of how Habitat is truly helping families maintain an affordable place to live. The article quotes a recent study that found the Dallas Habitat affiliate had a less than 2% foreclosure rate. 

Although the study only focused on Dallas, nationwide Habitat affiliates have had a very low foreclosure rate - including our affiliate here in Santa Barbara County. We are proud to say that we have had no foreclosures to date. This can be attributed to a number of factors: 

1. Habitat for Humanity's partner families are required to but in 250 sweat equity hours into the construction of their homes. Partner families have invested more than just their money into the homes.   
2. Habitat provides a Family Partnership Curriculum to prepare each family for the responsibilities of being a homeowner. The goal of the 16-month program is to give families the tools to become successful homeowners, and includes topics such as insurance, mortgages, resale restrictions, insurance, budgeting, credit, the affordability covenant, home maintenance, and how to run a homeowner’s association. All of the topics are taught by professionals in the field and each family has a dedicated mentor to help them through the process.
3. Habitat maintains a relationship with the partner families after the keys are handed over. We want each and every family to succeed and consider our partner families to be a part of the Habitat family. 

Be sure to read the full Wall Street Journal article: For Habitat for Humanity, Foreclosures Small Issue