Our Mission

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Portland's mission is to eliminate poverty housing in the Greater Portland area.

Habitat for Humanity is a people-to-people partnership, drawing prospective Habitat families and communities together with volunteers and resources to build decent, affordable housing for families whose income is above public housing guidelines and who are unable to qualify for conventional mortgages.

Qualified families are given a “hand up”, not a hand out, paying a monthly no-interest mortgage to Habitat. These monies, in turn, go back into building more simple, decent, affordable homes. Habitat is committed to the development and uplifting of families and communities, not only to the construction of houses.

History of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Portland

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Portland was founded as a private, non-profit 501(c)3 organization in 1985. Since then, we have provided safe, decent, affordable housing for over 200 families in the area.We have always been committed to the development and uplifing of families and communities, not only to the construction of houses.

Our programs include Home Ownership, Youth United, and ReStore.On a typical housing project, there will be about 800 volunteers sharing in the building of the house. Each year we have built up to five houses.

In 2008, we are expecting to build our 50th house in Cumberland County - the first affordable green house, in a subdivision, with our first access road. Past housing projects have included Women Build, Interfaith Build, and Youth Builds in Portland and surrounding towns such as Westbrook, Yarmouth, Falmouth, Cumberland, and Naples.