WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) --
Low income families that are interested in the Habitat for Humanity home building projects can learn more about the program at a Wausau meeting Saturday.
Joanne Genrich from Habitat for Humanity says they are hosting a community application meeting at 9:00 a.m. Saturday in the Wausau Room of the Marathon County Public Library.
There are several qualifications to meet, and Genrich says they will have the application forms along with a presentation explaining what they do. She says most people will take the forms home with them, because there are several documents they must fill out or locate and attach to the application.
Habitat for Humanity’s income guideline is at or below 50% of the county’s median income. If you are unsure where you fit in, stop in to the meeting and find out.
Genrich says several families apply each year, so it’s important to get the application right and to make sure you can meet the program’s expectations. “We select families who apply. These families are expected to are expected to contribute towards the construction of their home, because these are new home construction, so they are expected to put in a certain amount of sweat equity hours once the house is ready to be built.”
A new Habitat for Humanity family will be able to have a special kind of 30-year mortgage. “They pay taxes, principle, and that’s the biggest difference is that this is an interest free mortgage that they get.”
Genrich says families can usually end up with their own brand new home, and pay less each month than rent. “We’re building two, three, and four bedroom homes, so a typical four bedroom home for us, if we looked at it on a 30-year amortization, their payment including taxes and insurance would be between $550 and $600 dollars a month.”
So far, Habitat for Humanity in Marathon County has worked with local schools and volunteers for over twenty years to build 55 homes so far. Numbers 56 and 57 are under construction now.
(Our interview with Joanne Genrich can be heard on our website, here.)