"Then, on the day of the drawing, her number came up. "I just burst out crying. I mean, going from a feeling of insecurity and instability to like, 'Oh my gosh, I'm gonna be able to provide stability for my children,'" Rounds recalled. "That feeling - every parent deserves to have that feeling." Rounds was vying for one of just 10 spots."
"Sedonaen said Habitat lotteries are typically vastly oversubscribed, with hundreds of applicants for very few homes. "My colleagues are seeing this all throughout the state," Sedonaen said, referring to Habitat's 33 chapters statewide, "because so many people are looking for permanent affordable housing and the opportunity to become a first-time homeowner.""
"Habitat's program isn't a give-away, Sedonaen said. Participants have to complete more than 100 hours of training in financial literacy and home maintenance. And, they actually help build their homes - what Habitat calls sweat equity. "We're not Oprah," she said. "It's not like, 'You get a house, and you get a house!'" Habitat's San Francisco chapter doesn't require homeowners to put any money down and offers a no-interest loan for the mortgage."
Habitat for Humanity selects a small number of applicants from highly oversubscribed lotteries to provide permanent affordable homeownership. Selected families complete more than 100 hours of financial literacy and home maintenance training and contribute sweat equity by helping build their homes. San Francisco's chapter offers no down payment and no-interest mortgages with payments capped at about one-third of income, while CalHome subsidizes roughly 30% of costs. Recent state funding cuts have stalled construction on about 500 queued homes statewide. Only a few state programs, including the Joe Serna Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant, fund affordable for-sale housing.
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