Aug 3, 2014 2 min read

As past president of the board of directors of our Washington Habitat For Humanity affiliate and daily reader of the Observer-Reporter, I find an ongoing misconception by the public of our family building program as incorrectly stated in your article Friday, “Habitat for Humanity plan raising concerns.”

Your article stated that Habitat for Humanity is on track “to construct two new homes in North Franklin Township to be donated to economically disadvantaged families.” While all else is correct, the word ‘donated’ is not.

While our executive director is planning to meet with the residents near this proposed building site to offer more insight about our program, I feel your article certainly reaches far more folks who should know that our building program is based on the following requirements:

1. A family “in need” living in substandard housing

2. A family income level meeting our program parameters to qualify

3. A level of creditworthiness to pay back a 20-year, no-interest mortgage.

The additional requirement for approved families is their need to participate and earn between 350 and 500 sweat-equity hours, depending on family size, toward building their own home, as well as other ongoing Habitat construction.

As a side observation, we have just recently celebrated two more of our homeowners having fully paid their mortgages.

Conrad Rossetti

Eighty Four