Zero interest mortgage, zero down payment—Habitat for Humanity is building 10 Craftsman-style homes in Novato at Mt. Burdell Place near downtown, scheduled to open in the spring of 2016. Habitat’s affordable home ownership program requires candidates to: have the need, the ability to pay a mortgage and to become a willing Habitat partner—which among other things includes donating 500 hours of labor to the partnership. Annual income requirement for a family of four ranges from $40,000 to $55,000. “We sell the homes, we don’t give them away,” said Jamin Sartor McVeigh, Habitat’s development and marketing officer. The Mt. Burdell project is unusual in that Habitat purchased the land. “We use HUD guidelines and have licensed construction workers on site,” McVeigh said. Info: www.habitatgsf.org.
—Joanne Williams
