Habitat For Humanity Lake County

Habitat for Humanity is not a giveaway program. Families purchase their homes - in addition to working 500 hours.

The homes are sold at no profit to families who have been selected on the basis of need, ability to pay, and willingness to partner with Habitat. Houses are purchased with no-interest mortages. Payments from existing homes are recycled to build more houses.

Homebuyers are involved in all aspects of the work. They work 500 hours of labor, called "sweat equity", in construction - their own home and others - and in many other jobs to staff Habitat's work. This work reduces the cost of homes, while increasing the pride in ownership.

In addition to homebuyer hours, houses are built with volunteer labor and some donated materials. To date, HFHLC homes are in North Chicago, Zion, Round Lake Beach and Waukegan.

The Habitat for Humanity ReStore is our biggest fundraiser. The ReStore accepts donations and re-sells the merchandise while the proceeds from the sales go towards the cost of building our homes.