Habitat's
History
in Erie
Habitat for Humanity was founded by Millard Fuller in 1976. Thirteen years later, Reverend James McCormack introduced the concept to the Erie area. In 1989, with seed funding from the Erie Community Foundation, the Erie affiliate was established, and the first Habitat house in Erie was completed in 1991 with the help of dedicated volunteers.
Since then, volunteers have built 78 Habitat houses and rehabilitated 12 more—74 in the City of Erie and 4 in Union City—providing 78 families with a safe, decent place to call home. Additionally, 57 homes have been built internationally through our tithe.
Our Program
Greater Erie Area Habitat for Humanity provides the opportunity for families to partner with us to make their dream of safe, decent homeownership come true.
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Ability to Pay: Meet the income guidelines based on family size and meet the debt-to-income ratios
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Willingness to Partner: Complete a minimum of 300 hours of sweat equity, meet monthly with a family partner and budget coach, and attend homeownership preparation classes.
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Housing Need: During the application process, our Family Selection Committee will visit applicant families in their homes and determine the need for housing. Need can include overcrowding, physical/structure deficiencies, and/or cost burden.
Our program is not a hand out; it is a hand up.
Families who qualify for traditional house financing are generally not appropriate families for our program. Our families are struggling financially but need & want something better for their family and are willing to work for it.
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Families earn their opportunity through working sweat equity and learn about the construction of a house and help build their own. Our families work alongside of volunteers & develop their personal networks as well as learn about community involvement. Our families work on Habitat houses for other families first before their own. They do for others before anyone does for them.