Applications are being accepted from families who need new places to live.

Two low-income families will move into new houses this year as part of the Habitat for Humanity project.

Roger Stover, president of the Story County Habitat for Humanity, said the organization gained its affiliate status July 1, and will accept housing applications through Aug. 1. Families will be selected this September and work on the homes will begin later that month.

The family selection committee for Habitat for Humanity will select the families after a series of interviews in which the committee assesses individual need and ability to pay the interest-free mortgages.

Families are also required to donate a total of 500 hours of their time, called “sweat equity,” to working on their project and others.

As a Christian, non-profit organization, Habitat for Humanity relies on donations of money, supplies and labor to complete these projects and accepts no government funding, yet “there is no prerequisite that those … families we chose must be Christian,” Stover said.

Habitat for Humanity has already received two large donations: an empty lot and a house that must be moved.

A private Story City firm donated the empty lot, but a house must still be built on the property.

“We break down the house into how many windows, how many doors and see if a church can donate, say, five doors. But there are some things that can’t be contributed and we’ll have to pay for those,” Stover said.

The cost of moving the Ames house to a lot in Kelly will be paid for through donations.

“We have had a lot of support from the city and the mayor, but they just can’t do everything. Anything habitable in Ames can be rented and the lots are just too expensive,” Stover said.

With all of the organization’s money coming from donations, money must be spent wisely.

“We don’t build elaborate homes, but we want them to be comfortable for the size of the family and adequate to today’s standards,” said Marcia Brink, head of public relations for Habit for Humanity. “We build them to look nice in the community and be a source of pride for the homeowner. Our goal is to provide adequate, comfortable shelter.”

Stover said a second goal is to build a community for the family.

“The public often just sees the building of the house, but after the selection process is complete, the Family Nurture Committee works with the family. They help in their house repairs and with their everyday life,” Stover said.

Brink said including this step in the program was mandatory for Story County to be accepted as an affiliate. The process of gaining affiliation began six months ago. Since then the five committees overseeing the Story County Habitat for Humanity have been formed, including: construction, development, family selection, family nurture and site selection and development.

More than 300 people have shown interest in helping with the project and Stover credits much of the interest to the work that ISU students have done. In the past, students have contributed to the building of houses in Marshalltown and Des Moines.

“It’s not how do we get people to help anymore, but how do we use everybody? There’s a lot of excitement and it makes the job very easy,” Stover said.