"Before this, we were busy doing life now we are busy spending time together."
Brandi Hussmann is the homeowner of our 25th Anniversary home located on Greene Street.
She’s gone from working both a full-time job and a part-time job in addition to managing an internship and organizing the kids’ many activities to everything grinding to a halt during COVID. Quarantine was tough but they are managing and Brandi is blessed to be able to work from home. Homeschooling in combination with working from home has its own set of challenges. The silver lining to all of it stems from being in a comfortable, safe and affordable home that they can call their own. Now a dim memory, that cramped rental that she and the kids lived in before her Habitat home was completed, quarantine would have meant something entirely different had it happened then.
When I asked Brandi about the quarantine and how this has changed her life, she said, ” Before this, we were busy doing life, now we are busy spending time together.” Brandi and the kids planted a garden. They now take numerous family bike rides and are playing UNO. Because of her Habitat home, she is able to focus on the family and spending quality time together playing games and taking bike rides with a safe home to rest and shelter from the rest of the craziness of this strange new world.
We are so grateful for the support of the Beaufort Community. Your support has allowed us to provide 53 homes to low-income families in northern Beaufort County. Only with your support will we be able to continue our mission of providing families the hand up to homeownership.
LowCountry Habitat for Humanity partners with responsible families in need to provide an opportunity to become homeowners. Habitat's homeowner program is a hand-up, not a hand-out. It is not a solution for emergency housing needs, as the program usually takes one year or more from selection date to move-in date.
Families meet four requirements to be eligible for selection to the Habitat program:
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Legal resident living or working in Beaufort County
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Currently living in substandard housing
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Ability to pay a monthly mortgage, while earning less than 60% of HUD median income
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Willingness to partner by providing 250 hours of sweat equity for a single applicant, 400 for a couple
All applicants begin by attending a Family Orientation.
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All applicants must attend an orientation meeting, but not necessarily together.
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Meetings start on time and latecomers will not be admitted.
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Children are not allowed to attend.
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If you have special needs, please contact the office in advance.
Once accepted into the homeowner program, families work with volunteers to learn homeownership skills, while working on their house or another Habitat house. Upon closing, Habitat homeowners pay a no-interest-no-profit mortgage to our “Fund for Humanity”, which is used to build more houses.
The application process includes a two-part written application, income, background, credit and landlord verifications, and two separate home visits by two-person volunteer teams from the Family Selection Committee. Final approval to enter the Habitat program is voted on by our Board of Directors.
