We are Habitat for Humanity Lake-Sumter.
We know that affordable home ownership can transform a life, shape a community and change the world.
We do more than believe in change. We build it.
Why Home Ownership?
As housing availability shrinks and costs rise, families with limited incomes
face housing instability and become at risk for falling into a cycle of poverty.
Start with the home. The rest will follow.
Education
Homeownership offers the stability families need to build self-reliance and a strong foundation for future success. Homeowners are able to escape the anxiety of rent hikes and eviction threats, investing in themselves and creating a legacy for their families. Homeownership gives families with limited incomes the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty.
Homeownership correlates to a host of positive success indicators:
- Children of homeowners have higher educational attainment.
- Young children of homeowners see higher achievement in math and reading, and exhibit fewer behavioral problems.
- Teenaged children of homeowners are more likely to stay in school.
- Homeowners’ children have higher lifetime annual incomes.
Health
For many Habitat homeowners, their Habitat home is a radical departure from their previously overcrowded, hazardous, or substandard housing.
Studies have shown that stable, affordable housing is closely tied to health:
- Families with affordable housing options are at a lower risk of lead poisoning and exposure to mold and other allergens, which can lead to asthma.
- When a family pays a high portion of its income toward housing, health suffers as less income goes toward healthy food and health care expenses.
- The instability of renting can be disruptive to health care. Children without stable housing are more likely to use costly emergency services.
- Homeowners report greater satisfaction, self-esteem, perceived control over their lives and physical health.
Stability
In a challenging and unstable housing environment, families with limited incomes are often the most vulnerable to the impulses of the market. These hardworking families face a monthly, sometimes daily, struggle to meet their housing costs, while contending with a fear that an eviction, a rent hike or simply an unanticipated expense, will mean displacement.
For families like these, a stable, affordable place to call home means:
- The ability to put down roots in a community
- No disruption in schooling
- An investment in themselves – in their savings, in their education, in their retirement, in their passions, in the generations to come.
Community
Homeowners have a refuge from the whims of an unpredictable rental market. As homeowners move less frequently than renters, they become more deeply ingrained into the fabric of a community. Home ownership lends greater stability to a neighborhood. Homeowners not only build strong, stable lives for their own families, but they also strengthen their community.
Home ownership has strong connections to community:
- Homeowners spend more time and money in maintaining their homes, contributing to the value and image of a community.
- Homeowners are shown to be more involved in their communities, with a higher likelihood of volunteering.
- Homeowners are more likely to be politically active.
How we work
We invest in people. We empower people – hardworking people with limited incomes – to invest in themselves and generations to come.
Habitat homeowners purchase their homes through a low-cost mortgage and receive financial counseling and educational training to ensure they are prepared for successful home ownership.
Through a range of innovative, sustainable, solution-oriented programs, we make affordable home ownership a reality for more people.