A Trust from God
By Millard Fuller

Habitat for Humanity is not a giveaway program. The only thing Habitat gives to new homeowners is an opportunity.

Habitat affiliates build for and with low-income families and then sell the homes at no profit and no interest. We call that the “Bible finance plan.”

The new homeowners-to-be must put in several hundred hours of their own labor in building their new houses, and they must help others build as well. We call that “sweat equity.”

We expect Habitat homeowners to be faithful in making their payments and in being good stewards of their new homes. In a real sense, they have been given a trust, as the Bible says, and they should prove faithful.

This expectation of faithfulness is not an onerous thing. We always seek to build modest, but adequate, houses that are affordable to families with limited incomes. With discipline and determination, families are able to make the reasonable mortgage payments. This requirement builds responsible families who, over time, grow in self-respect and in a lifestyle that is conducive to improvement in all aspects of their lives.

Further, by making faithful mortgage payments, current Habitat homeowners are able to bless other families because those payments are used to build still more houses.

In this ministry of putting God’s love into action, Habitat for Humanity routinely takes risks by working with families of very modest means. Sometimes, those families disappoint us, but not often. After two and a half decades of building more than 100,000 houses, overwhelmingly, Habitat families have succeeded as homeowners. Of course, affiliates have family nurturing programs in place that help new homeowners with budgeting, tutoring, interpersonal relations and so forth, as needed. In this way, Habitat seeks to help equip them to be successful.

The result is a worldwide success story: Habitat homeowners have received their new homes as a trust from God and they have proven faithful.


Millard Fuller is the founder and president of Habitat for Humanity International.


Reprinted from Habitat World Magazine, April/May 2001.
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©2001 Habitat for Humanity International