Since October, 1989 Charleston Habitat has built 60 homes in the following neighborhoods: Eastside, Westside, Rosemont, Union Heights, Chicora Cherokee, Park Circle and Midland Park. Charleston Habitat’s goal is to continue strengthening Charleston and North Charleston urban communities by building new homes and placing qualified families in them.

Charleston Habitat targets families who make 35-60% of Charleston’s median income ($56,400). These families usually don’t make enough to procure funding from a traditional lending institution or bank nor are they eligible for any type of government housing assistance. In addition, many of the families Charleston Habitat works with sacrifice more than 50% of their monthly income to pay for the rental of an apartment that is insufficient size.

In the cities of Charleston and North Charleston, “the Fair Market Rent (FMR) for a two-bedroom apartment is $663. In order to afford this level of rent and utilities, without paying more than 30% of income on housing, a household must earn $2,210 monthly or $26, 520 annually.” (National Low-Income Housing Coalition-NLIHC) At present a Charleston Habitat homeowner pays an average of $350 per month, interest free for a three to four bedroom home. This amount is just a little more than half the FMR for a twd-bedroom apartment in Charleston.