Sweat Equity Policy

Sweat Equity Requirement: A family selected for Habitat homeownership must contribute a minimum of 350 hours of  “sweat equity”.  The term “sweat equity” refers to the actual hands on involvement of homeowners in the work necessary to achieve our goal of eliminating substandard housing.  It is the homeowners physical investment in Habitats’ work.  Sweat equity can be earned by working on committees, attending workshops, and by helping to build a Habitat home, including your own.

Completion of Sweat Equity: A family starts earning sweat hours during the interview process.  If there are ongoing projects, construction on a family’s house will not begin until 50 of sweat equity have been completed. This requirement will be waived if there are no current sweat equity opportunities available.  Once the construction begins on their home, the selected family, has approximately ten (10) months or less to satisfy their move in requirements of sweat equity hours.  A Habitat home can not be bought until 350 hours of sweat equity have been completed.  There is no leasing program.

Functions Applicable for Sweat Equity:

Part 1
0-50 Hours: Interview time, attending Habitat Partnership workshops and seminars, participating at Habitat fundraising events, committee work, and helping on construction projects.

Part 2
51-350 Hours: Fundraising events, construction work projects, (especially your house), writing letters for the affiliate or any other work the affiliate deems appropriate.  All families are encouraged to get hours donated from friends, relatives, church groups, and other Habitat volunteers.  Up to twenty-five percent of the 350 sweat  hours may be donated.  There may be families whose circumstances require a higher percentage of donated hours.  The Family Selection and Partnership Committee will review this policy on a family by family basis.

Construction Work Projects: Any activity that is involved in the construction process for example; baby-sitting at the site, food preparation, house sitting, building, and site clean-up count as sweat equity.

Process of Accumulating Sweat Equity: After the selection process, the family should start participating in the Partnership workshops and seminars.  The family will receive a notebook to keep track of their hours and plan a time table for the completion of their sweat equity hours.  The Partnership Committee will contact the family selected for homeownership every month regarding its progress toward completion of the sweat equity requirement.  It is assumed that a family selected for homeownership will complete an average of 35 hours per month.  If satisfactory progress toward completing the sweat equity requirement is not being made at the end of the third month, the Partnership Committee will issue a written notice to the family.  Also, at this time the Partnership Committee will try to actively help the family find ways to increase their amount of sweat equity hours.  If, by the sixth month, progress continues to be unsatisfactory a written notice will make it clear that Habitat’s approval of that family for homeownership may be withdrawn unless the family acts promptly to complete its sweat equity requirement.

Tracking of Sweat Equity Hours:  The partner family selected will be responsible for keeping track of their sweat equity hours.  Their Partnership sponsor will be responsible for verifying and settling all differences in their sweat equity hour accumulation.

Sweat equity for repair projects:  Since repair projects will only involve a short term commitment, Habitat expects that if its’ volunteers spend 16 hours on a repair project  the family receiving assistance will provide an equal amount of hours of sweat equity.  This policy requirement will be reevaluated on a case by case basis Habitat believes that the benefits of sweat equity are numerous.  An obvious benefit is the increased speed of construction due to more available volunteer help.  In addition, homeowners have an opportunity, while working on their own or another house, to gain new skills and confidence.  It is hoped that through the physical investment of sweat equity hours, the family will gain some of the knowledge needed to maintain and care for their home.  The knowledge one has of having done much of the work on one’s own home can also be beneficial in making the mental transition from lifelong renter to homeowner.  Sweat equity also helps build bonds between the Habitat partners and volunteers.  In fact, there is no better way to get to know one another than to actually work alongside each other.  It is exciting to see God break down racial, economic, and religious barriers and build strong, caring relationships on foundations of increased understanding as His people work together to build sturdy, decent homes on foundations of stone.