Habitat for Humanity of Lancaster County is a housing ministry financed through private donations and utilizing volunteer labor. Our purpose is to build homes with families and sell them at our cost with no profit and no interest to families who could not otherwise afford a home.

Please read the following items to see if you meet our general guidelines:

1. To qualify for the home, you must have enough income to support the cost of the home but not much more than Habitat’s guidelines of 60% of the median income for Lancaster County. The amount of income required will depend on the family size and resulting home size, the home’s final cost, property taxes, mortgage length and insurance cost, and has to be estimated for each house. The maximum income is based on 60% of the median income for the county, as determined by the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Potential homeowners must also have a minimum credit score of 650.

2. After receiving your permission, we will verify employment and other income, verify checking and savings account balances and get a statement from your current and previous landlords. You will be responsible for providing a complete and current credit history, as well as your credit score. You must also provide a current criminal background check (we accept SC Law Enforcement Division's SLED Catch, which is available online) and not be listed on the Sex Offenders' Registry.

3. If approved for a Habitat home, you will be expected to join in programs to learn and practice budgeting, home repair and home maintenance. The time spent on these programs will be credited to your sweat equity time. (see Item 4, below)

4. If approved for a Habitat home, each adult member of your household must work to complete the required amount of sweat equity hours on your home and other Habitat projects.

5. If approved for a Habitat home, you will be required to save $50 per month from the day of signing your acceptance letter until the day of closing. These funds will be applied toward closing costs and front-loading escrow. (Escrow funds are amounts collected from you along with your mortgage payment toward the renewal of your homeowner’s insurance and annual property taxes.) The total amount you will need at closing on your home will usually be between $1,500 and $2,000.

6. If you are approved for a home and you meet the sweat equity and savings requirements, the affiliate will sell you your home at our cost and provide a no-interest mortgage. Since the house payments are used to help build more homes with other families, it is important that your payments are made in full and on time each month on or before the due date.

If you are interested in Habitat and if you believe you qualify for a home according to the above guidelines, please plan to attend our next Family Selection meeting. At that time, the location of the home to be built/rehabilitated will be announced, as well the deadline for application submissions. Assistance with the application process will be available at the meeting. When the meeting is scheduled, it will be publicized in the community and on this web site.

The family accepted to receive a house through Habitat must also realize this is a highly publicized program and their home will be built by the efforts of the community. You are our Habitat partner/ambassadors.

All information from the application is confidential, to be used only for family selection by the Family Selection Committee. Families not initially accepted may reapply with the next application process. By law, we cannot have an applicant waiting list.