Houston Habitat for Humanity Homeownership Program Eligibility Screener

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Congratulations on starting your home search with Habitat! Houston Habitat helps families obtain affordable homeownership, the catalyst that propels a family to strength, stability and independence.

Potential homeowners partner with Houston Habitat by completing financial training, learning about home maintenance, and participating in building Habitat homes alongside volunteers.  They then purchase their homes with an affordable mortgage.

Please complete the questionnaire below to find out if you are eligible to apply for Houston Habitat for Humanity's homeownership program. Please note: this is not an application to the homeownership program.

Please note: if you're screening for yourself and a co-applicant, you'll need access to their income amount and credit score.

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Financial Information

If you don't know your credit score, you can view a free copy of your credit report on www.freecreditscore.com. This report will not result in a hard check on your credit report.









Your debt-to-income ratio





Your co applicant's debt-to-income ratio





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Household Information


Homeownership Program
Once accepted to the program, you must complete 200 "sweat equity" hours (250 if applying with a co-applicant) in order to close on your Habitat home. Sweat equity hours are satisfied through a combination of mandatory education (homeownership classes, financial education, etc.), construction volunteer hours (hours spent on site working on Habitat homes), and ReStore volunteer hours (hours spent volunteering at one of Habitat's ReStores).

Most approved applicants take 6-8 months to complete their sweat equity hours, and Habitat for Humanity Houston is committed to extending reasonable accommodations for approved applicants. The typical timeframe from program entry to closing is 8-12 months. 

In addition to completing sweat equity hours, applicants must save at least $2,500 to put towards closing costs on their home. While Habitat works with many bank partners and down payment assistance programs, program participants are still responsible for their mortgage and housing costs. 



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Contact Information
Your information










Additional contact information









Eligible to Apply

Congratulations - it looks like you're eligible to apply! We encourage you to attend one of our virtual homeownership information sessions, where our staff will cover program requirements and answer your questions about the program.

If you'd like to apply, please visit our website at www.houstonhabitat.org/services/homeownership/ to download our application.

If you have questions about the program and want to talk to someone in our office, give us a call at (713) 671-9993, or email us at familyservices@houstonhabitat.org.

We've listed our program requirements below for your reference:

Need for Housing:
  • Live in overcrowded housing
  • Live in substandard housing
  • Pay more than 30% of gross income on rent
  • Live in an unsafe and/or unsanitary neighborhood
Residency:
  • Be a U.S. citizen or have permanent residency status
Willingness to Partner:
  • Perform up to 250 hours of "sweat equity" which includes helping to build homes
  • Complete pre-purchase and post-purchase programs which include financial counseling
Ability to Pay:
  • Have a satisfactory credit score
  • Be able to afford monthly mortgage payments, including escrow and insurance
  • Meet minimum annual household gross income requirement for family size
                                       Habitat for Humanity Income Requirements

Ineligible to apply

Unfortunately, it looks like you're ineligible to apply because [insert reason here]. We've listed our program requirements below for your reference:

[Internal] List of reasons:
  • it looks like your income exceeds our maximum program income requirements
  • it looks like you do not meet our minimum program income requirements
  • your debt-to-income ratio (your monthly expenses vs your monthly income) is too high [insert percentage here (above 46%)]
  • you indicated you could not commit to completing the sweat equity requirement of the program
  • you indicated you could not commit to the savings requirements of the program
  • Habitat requires that applicants who have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy must apply after at least 7 years of the discharge date
  • Habitat requires applicants who have filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy to apply after at least (12) months of on-time payments

Need for Housing:
  • Live in overcrowded housing
  • Live in substandard housing
  • Pay more than 30% of gross income on rent
  • Live in an unsafe and/or unsanitary neighborhood
Residency:
  • Be a U.S. citizen or have permanent residency status
Willingness to Partner:
  • Perform up to 250 hours of "sweat equity" which includes helping to build homes
  • Complete pre-purchase and post-purchase programs which include financial counseling
Ability to Pay:
  • Have a satisfactory credit score
  • Be able to afford monthly mortgage payments, including escrow and insurance
  • Meet minimum annual household gross income requirement for family size
                                         Habitat for Humanity Income Requirements

If you'd still like to apply, please visit our website at www.houstonhabitat.org/services/homeownership/ to download our application.

If you have questions about the program and want to talk to someone in our office, give us a call at (713) 671-9993, or email us at familyservices@houstonhabitat.org.

Contact Information