On August 13th, Scott Slattery from Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity, addressed the Rotary Club of Nashua regarding, the Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity. Scott is the Executive Director of the local agency which was started in 1994, it is part of Habitat for Humanity international which started in 1976, President Jimmy Carter has been a support and volunteer since the organizations inception, overall they are in 50 states and 70 countries.
Their current, local project is a two family dwelling at 42 Chestnut Street, the former location of the Nashua Soup Kitchen. In addition to construction of new homes, the organization also operates a Habitat Restore which sells donated building materials and they have a critical home repair program to help existing homeowners with repairs that can’t make or afford on their own.
An individual purchasing a Habitat for Humanity home needs to qualify with HH’s selection process and for a mortgage, there is usually a primary mortgage from a standard financial institution and a second mortgage held by HH. In addition, the client needs to give back 350 hours of volunteer services to HH, the volunteering can be at a job site, the agency’s office or at the Restore. If a client needs to sell the property prior to the completion of the mortgage, it needs to be sold to a new agency client.
The greatest challenge HH faces is the scarcity of affordable house lots within the Nashua area. The agency is always looking for individuals which may be in a position of donating a housing lot to them. Scott thank the club for the community grant awarded to HH and the support they have received in the past.