Home Ownership

Lancaster/Northumberland Habitat for Humanity is an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, a Christian ministry working throughout the world to provide housing for needy and deserving people. Houses are built using a combination of donated and purchased materials and labor.



Volunteers provide most of the construction labor. However, each recipient of housing also contributes sweat equity hours in both their houses and in other projects. The houses are sold to the recipients for roughly the value of the land plus the cost of purchased labor and materials, through a long term, no-interest mortgage. Habitat retains title to any additional equity and gradually transfers it to the homeowner over the period of the mortgage.