History of Habitat International
Habitat for Humanity International was founded in 1976 by Millard Fuller in Americus, Georgia. Habitat is a nonprofit, economical housing ministry dedicated to the ideal that all people deserve a simple, decent place to live on terms that they can afford to pay.
There are currently over 2,100 active Habitat affiliates around the globe in 100 countries. They have built more than 300,000 homes worldwide, housing more than 1.5 million people. More information about the history of Habitat for Humanity International here.
Rice Habitat History
The Rice campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity was founded in the early 1990's. Throughout the 90's, Rice Habitat was very active and even sponsored some of our own houses. After 2001, Rice Habitat became somewhat dormant, without many builds occurring. Then in the 2007-2008 school year, Rice Habitat was brought back strongly and the push has continued through the 2008-2009 school year. We are now looking to raise the funds to sponsor a habitat build of our own in addition to supplying volunteers to build. For the 2009-2010 School year, Rice Habitat has been working with Rebuilding Together Houston on several wheelchair ramp builds. Rice Habitat has also been working in collaboration with the Houston Dynamo on the House that Ching Built (HTCB) project.
How it works:
There is a selection process to determine who receives Habitat homes. First, families in need of a decent shelter apply to local affiliates, and they are selected based on the level of need, their willingness to become partners in the Habitat program, and their ability to repay the loan. Through volunteer labor and tax deductible donations of money and materials, Habitat builds and rehabilitates modest, suitable houses which cost on average $60,000 in the United States. The Habitat houses are affordable for low-income families because there is no profit included in the sale price.
In addition to monthly mortgage payments, each homeowner invests approximately 500 hours of their own labor (sweat equity) into the building of their house and the houses of others. The sweat equity usually involves helping build other families' homes, taking classes about finance and home maintenance, and working on their own house.
Links to Old Rice Habitat Projects/Websites
Rice Anderson House
Fall 2007 Description Sheet
Old Group Info Sheet
Old Habitat Home Page
Habitat Construction Manual
Rice Habitat Trip to Honduras
Jimmy Carter Work Project, 1998
Rice Habitat House 2001
Rice Habitat House 2000
South Dakota Spring Break Trip
Sitemap for old website
Rice Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit student organization
which works towards Habitat's goal of eliminating inadequate
housing. Rice Habitat works to extinguish inadequate housing
in Houston by providing opportunities for the Rice community
to volunteer with other Habitat affiliates
