Habitat for Humanity Tucson is celebrating the completion of the 300th home built in 30 years of service in the local community.
The group builds homes for low- income families using donated money, land, materials and volunteered time.
Rosa McFeaters and her daughter, Marilyn, 8, will formally get the keys to their Habitat for Humanity home near Kino Parkway and East 22nd Street at a ceremony Thursday.
Michael McDonald, the group's executive director, answered a few questions about the organization.
Q: What significance does the 300th Tucson home hold?
A: It is the end of our third decade, and in the last 10 years we have grown exponentially. It took the first 20 years to build about 100, and in the last 10 years we built another 200 homes. It represents the community's investment in Habitat for Humanity.
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Q: Who built the 300th home?
A: The home was built by Santa Rita High School students as part of Habitat's High School Build partnership. The program develops skills of the next generation of home builders. Unlike other industries, you cannot outsource home building to other countries. About 45 families have received homes built by the program. Four area high schools — Santa Rita, Howenstine, Sabino and Sahuarita — participate.
Q: How does one receive a home from Habitat for Humanity Tucson?
A: About twice a year we hold public meetings for people to learn more and apply to receive a house. All recipients must participate in home-buyer classes, complete 200 hours of adult labor in building the home or serve the community in some other fashion.
We do a background check, check for decent credit, a steady income and a job. We also visit with each family. It is a pretty rigorous selection process.
Q: How is the house paid for?
A: The recipient pays a zero-interest mortgage back to Habitat for 20 to 25 years.
Q: Does the group work outside of Tucson?
A: Habitat for Humanity commonly sponsors overseas builds, and we in Tucson have sponsored about 225 homes, generally in Mexico, and are planning on sending a small team to southern Mexico to help build five to six homes.
Q: How much of an effort on being environmentally friendly is put into the building of the homes?
A: We are increasing our investment in sustainable design and "green" building. We just received the Pima County silver standard of sustainable home building. We are looking at ways to increase energy efficiency and conserve resources.