Some have asked me how people are selected to get a Habitat home. A committee of Habitat volunteers interviews applicants (there usually are more applying than homes available) to make the selection. Families chosen have to demonstrate need, have a steady income and good credit history, and be willing to partner with Habitat (by devoting a minimum of 500 hours of labor on their house -- a "sweat equity" down payment, and by a host of other things). When their house is finished, the new owner purchases the house at somewhere around 1/3 of the market price, and makes mortgage payments over 20 or so years, and at zero interest -- i.e., just pay back the principal. To be sure the houses go to those truly seeking a decent home and not fast-buck artists, the houses generally can not be sold during the entire mortgage period. If the family must leave the area or in other such special cases, Habitat will buy the house back from the family, and in turn find another needy local family to take it over.
As an electrical engineer, Mike likes to do electrical work on the houses, but it turns out there really isn't that much electrical work for volunteers to do. So Mike has had to expand his horizons, and now has learned to do framing, siding, windows, kitchen cabinets, baseboards, closets, furnaces, plumbing, etc. (In fact, he has told Sandy he now could probably build an entire new house for her, but she politely declined the offer.)
Here's a sampling of some pictures from the sites where Mike has worked, in Oakley, Livermore, Antioch, Pittsburg, Bay Point, Alameda, and Oakland.
