Habitat partners with applicants who demonstrate a need for adequate housing, willingness to partner, and the ability to pay a mortgage. Click here for more detailed information.

The process of applying for to the Homeownership Program begins by contacting us. Please call (503) 687-1415 or email the Program Coordinator, Jennifer Lyon at jennifer@machabitat.org. You will be given more information about the program, offered the application materials, and invited to attend an optional Q & A session via Zoom.

The Q & A Session is highly recommended. It provides an opportunity to learn more about our program and the application process. Whether or not you attend a Q & A Session, you can always visit or call our offices with questions during the application process.

During our open application window, you may submit an application with all required documentation – mail or deliver the application to the Habitat office. The information will be reviewed by the Family Selection Committee to determine if you are eligible to continue the process toward becoming a Habitat homeowner.

If you meet our initial eligibility requirements, then a home visit will be scheduled to evaluate your household’s preparedness for homeownership.

If you are approved by McMinnville Area Habitat for Humanity’s Board of Directors, then you will be notified and can get started on the Homeownership Program requirements!

Our Homeowner Support Committee will guide you through the process of becoming a homeowner through Habitat. This includes taking homebuyer education classes and completing a minimum of 250-500 “sweat equity” volunteer hours. Sweat equity is an exciting learning experience in which you work with family, neighbors, and friends to build other homes as well as your own. Hours can be earned on the construction sites, at special events, in our ReStore, or in the office.

You will continue your sweat equity hours throughout the construction process of your new home.

Habitat staff, volunteers, and sponsors who have been with you every step of the way gather with your family and friends to dedicate your new home!

Lifetime Partnership: After we close on the house, you move in! Habitat homeowners are expected to remain engaged with Habitat’s mission by staying in good communication with Habitat, making timely mortgage payments, and assuming an active role in their neighborhoods and as mentors to new families entering the process.

The Home That Wine Country Built

Meet our current Homeowner Partners – the Gonzalez Family! Maria Ana, Eliazar, Emiliano, Hazael and Camila.

The Gonzalez family will be living in The Home That Wine Country Built, a fundraising, building, and community project of the Willamette Valley Wineries Association (WVWA).

The 2-bedroom apartment where the family currently lives in small for this growing family. They have made space for the baby’s crib in the closet of the parents’ bedroom. The apartment complex is not safe enough for the young boys to play outside or to ride their bikes. The work orders to the manager can take almost a year to be addressed, so Eliazar has taken it upon himself to learn how to fix things around the apartment. We are excited for him to bring his skills to the Habitat construction site when he helps build his home!

The family looks forward to playing in Aspire Park and the boys have dreams of putting a trampoline in their back yard. Mom Maria Ana has told them they need to get a new piggy bank to start saving!