Learn more about how Habitat began

The idea that became Habitat first grew from the fertile soil of Koinonia Farm, a community farm outside of Americus, Georgia, founded by farmer and biblical scholar Clarence Jordan. On the farm, Clarence and Linda and Millard Fuller (eventual Habitat founders) developed the concept of partnership housing. The concept centered on people in need of adequate shelter working side by side with volunteers to build decent, affordable houses. The houses would be built at no profit. New homeowners’ house payments would be combined with no-interest loans provided by supporters and other funds raised, which would then be used to build more homes.

Beau and Emma were the owners of the first home built by Koinonia’s partnership housing program. They helped build a concrete-block home with a modern kitchen, indoor bathroom and heating system, replacing the unpainted, uninsulated shack with no plumbing where they had previously lived.

In 1973, Millard and Linda decided to take the new concept to Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo. After three years of hard work to launch a successful house building program, the Fullers returned to the United States and called together a group of supporters to discuss the future of their dream: Habitat for Humanity International, founded in 1976.

Today Habitat creates housing opportunities, not one house or one person at a time but by the thousands, even millions. We do this by working toward policy changes, implementing programs that make housing markets around the world more inclusive, and supporting housing innovations that can be scaled up across entire countries and regions.