Home Ownership & Construction

Through the houses we build, hope is restored and lives are changed as the cycle of need is broken. Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity serves Cedar, Johnson and Iowa counties and seeks to build lives as well as houses. We bring together people from all walks of life, with varied skills and economic backgrounds, to provide low-income families with a hand-up into first time home ownership. We believe that everyone deserves a safe and secure home for their family, and we are making that happen, one family at a time.

Impacting Homeowners

Owning a home symbolizes accomplishment, independence, and the American dream. Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity seeks to assist families who are determined to move into a home of their own, but who just need some well-deserved assistance along the way. Because home ownership is such an important and involved process, we work alongside the families throughout its entirety, building the house and building them up along the way.

In order to include homeowners in every step of the home ownership process, we provide a range of involvement activities. Each adult in the partner family is required to contribute 250 hours of "sweat equity,” or volunteer labor. One-fifth of these hours must be completed by the adult — either through volunteering on the build site, in the Habitat office or ReStore, or helping with special events or other activities — whereas the remaining 200 hours can be completed by the future homeowner’s friends, family, and loved ones.

Partner families are also encouraged to sit in on our education classes we hold that cover homeowner-related subjects such as insurance, home maintenance, and budgeting. Through all of these avenues, we invest each partner family in the building process, helping them to gain self-reliance, heighten their sense of self-esteem and learn new skills.

Helping Elderly & Disabled Homeowners

We also assist elderly and disabled homeowners who are living on a fixed income through A Brush With Kindness, a program that provides minor, exterior home improvements at cost. At Iowa Valley Habitat, we feel that everyone should be able to remain living in their home in safety and with dignity for as long as possible.

Impacting Children

Children need a secure place to go at night, and a Habitat home offers them that security and stability. A Habitat for Humanity home provides children’s parents with a more stable economic living situation and lays a stable foundation for their children’s future.

Children also benefit when living in a home of their own, rather than having to move constantly, change schools and make new friends. According to Donald Haurin, Ohio State professor of Economics, Finance, and Public Policy, kids who live in homes owned by their parents do 30% better in math and reading, and are less likely to be held back a grade.

Impacting the Community

We offer many ways for community members -- children and adults, volunteers and donors, individuals and groups, businesses and faith organization -- to get involved in helping us support our families into homes of their own.

By investing time, money, materials, and expertise, supporters put their talents to use and gain new relationships and learn life skills, all of which extend far beyond a day's work at the build site.

See how easy it is to get involved in the work Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity's doing in our community and beyond by getting involved today!