Twenty-five years ago, Habitat For Humanity set an ambitious goal to build 1000 homes in Oregon by 2010. The non-profit is confident it can meet the deadline. It’s taken a lot of volunteers and sweat equity, but Habitat For Humanity says the 1000th home will be completed by October of next year. It will be in a 10-house development in Springfield called Meyer Estates. Rick Medlen is the President of the board for Springfield/Eugene Habitat For Humanity. 43 homes have been built in the area and Medlen says the homeowners have a zero-default rate on the mortgages.

Rick Medlen: “When economic times get tough, you know they’re more than willing to come in and sit down and work out payment plans. But also the fact that they love their homes and they really put a lot of their heart and soul into the five-hundred hours that they have to put into their own homes. They’re a little bit less willing to walk away from that.”

to walk away from that.”

Habitat For Humanity has pledged to build another one-thousand homes in Oregon by 2020.

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