How it works

How does the Programme work?
HFHZ motivates community groups to organize themselves into self-help housing co-operatives. Communities and families fund-raise to purchase building materials. Families are then selected by a local committee to receive a loan of building materials to construct their houses. People assist one other with the construction of the house and repay the loan into the Revolving Fund for Humanity so that another family can be helped. HFHZ provides construction funds only to communities who have undertaken local fund-raising initiatives and are reliably repaying their house loans

How does HFHZ handle cost Issues?
HFHZ houses cater for low income families and no profit is included in the sale price with no interest charged on the mortgage. The maximum house cost can not exceed the equivalent value of between 120 to 300 bags of cement (dependent on the location and income levels of the community). The loan is given in the form of building materials. As different materials are issued they are converted into their equivalent in bags of cement. Upon house completion, each homeowner will owe a certain number of bags of cement that must be repaid within a 10 year period. To guarantee adequacy of resources to build other houses, mortgage payments are calculated at the current price of cement when the payment is made. This cement index ensures that future projects are not jeopardised by inflation.

Is HFHZ a handout/ giveaway programme?
NO! Homeowners are required to pay back their entire loan. Families who fail to pay will have their houses repossessed and reallocated to another eligible family. This ensures that more families get the opportunity to build their own house.

How does the community participate?
Homeowners provide all labour for their own and their neighbour’s houses through volunteer labour, called “Sweat Equity”. This work includes moulding and/or firing bricks, construction and all other unskilled labour.

How are projects (affiliates) administered in the many different areas?

Through Volunteer Local Committees. These are locally elected committees who serve voluntarily without pay or any other benefits to run the affiliate. The local committee is responsible for all project operations including fund-raising, selecting families to receive houses, community education on HFHZ, construction supervision and administration.

How are families selected?
Families in need apply to the local HFHZ affiliate. After application reviews and making house visits, the affiliate family selection committee selects a number of potential homeowners. Homeowners are chosen according to their level of need, their willingness to build their house and the houses of others, and their ability to repay the loan. Those chosen families will then participate in a raffle to decide which families will be assisted first. Every affiliate follows a non-discriminatory policy for family selection. Neither race nor religion is a factor in choosing the families who will receive HFHZ houses.

It must be noted that there are specific criteria that are followed in the selection of these beneficiary families. The three major and unchangeable criteria are:
• The family MUST be living in inadequate shelter
• The family MUST be able to make payments, but NOT able to afford decent housing by another method
• The family MUST be willing to partner (which means willing to volunteer labour and willing to pay back the cost of the house)
Aside from these main criteria affiliate committees develop their own set of objective criteria. It must also be emphasised that it is essential that the family can pay for the house without sacrificing other basic necessities.

Habitat for Humanity Zambia endeavours to work WITH and not FOR people in need. It is imperative that people feel a part and parcel to any and all activities undertaken in their community. In so doing, there is an incipient sense of responsibility and ownership engrained into each individual who partners with Habitat for Humanity.

Habitat for Humanity envisions “a world where everyone has a decent place to live.” This WILL be achieved by fulfilling our Mission Statement, being: Habitat for Humanity works in partnership with God and people everywhere, from all walks of life, to develop communities with people in need by building and renovating houses so that there are decent houses in decent communities in which every person can experience God’s love and can live to grow into all that God intends