Apply for a Home & Assistance

Do you qualify for a Habitat home?

There are three main qualifications that individuals and families must meet in order to be eligible to become a Habitat homeowner:

Need for Housing

: Simply having the desire and commitment to be a homeowner; Living in overcrowded housing; Living in substandard housing; Being a resident of public housing; Being unable to secure adequate housing through the private market

Ability to Pay

: Individuals and families must fall within a certain income range. Click here to see if your income falls within the guidelines. If applicants have declared bankruptcy, they must wait two years after being discharged and establishing good credit to apply for a Habitat house.

Willingness to Partner

: Applicants must be willing to perform at least 250 sweat equity (volunteer) hours; Must have lived or worked in in the Greater Springfield area for the last year

How to Apply

Application Process for Home Ownership

To learn about more about our homeownership opportunity, call the GSHFH family services coordinator at (413) 739-5503, ext. 20

STEP1: Applicant Information Meeting (AIM)

To receive an application, potential partner families are REQUIRED to attend an applicant information meeting (AIM). The initial one-page application with required information needs to be returned to Habitat within one month of the orientation date.

STEP 2: Habitat calculates your income and conducts a credit check. If income and credit meet our requirements, the applicant is invited to an initial in-office meeting and credit counseling session with our staff.

STEP 3: In-office initial meeting and credit counseling at the Habitat office.

STEP 4: Official in-office interview

STEP 5: Application continues to be processed. Employment history and rental history are verified. Application is passed to the Family Selection Committee.

STEP 6: Family Selection Committee home visit. Two members of the Family Selection Committee will contact applicant to set up a time to visit and interview at the applicant's residence.

STEP 7: If approved... Start Habitat Partnership and begin to build home. The application process takes four to six months. The sweat equity requirements take 12 to 18 months. From the date of application to the time of house closing, it generally takes about a year-and-a-half to two years.

If applicants do not meet Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity criteria and are not accepted into the program, they will receive a letter with a description of the reason and a referral to free credit counseling if necessary.

There is no limit to how many times an individual can apply for a Habitat home, so we encourage our applicants to reapply!

Information on other home ownership programs can be found at: