Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity is an ecumenical Christian organization devoted to building simple, decent, and affordable housing. Homes are built using volunteer labor and are sold at no profit. The organization was founded in 1976. By 2004 Habitat for Humanity had built 50,000 houses in the U.S. and more than 175,100 around the world. Although headquartered in the United States, two thirds of Habitat construction takes place in other countries. In 2005 Habitat built its 200,000th house, bringing the number of people sheltered in Habitat houses worldwide to one million. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter became involved with Habitat for Humanity in 1984 and have since become the organization's highest-profile proponents. The Carters have been involved in fund-raising and publicity as well as actual homebuilding. The 2006 Jimmy Carter Work Project took place from 30 October 2006 to 4 November 2006 in India.