VALDOSTA, Ga. — Habitat for Humanity specializes in building homes for families that otherwise couldn’t afford them, and the organization is currently working on building its 24th home in one Valdosta neighborhood.

One of the first Habitat homes of 2017 will sit on Webster Street in the Leila Ellis neighborhood, an area that is full of residences built with the help of the organization.

The new five-bedroom, two-bathroom home is for a local family of five, a family chosen after a thorough vetting process, said Stuart Mullis, executive director of Valdosta-Lowndes Habitat for Humanity.

Habitat doesn’t give homes away for free, so the families have to be financially able to pay the construction costs back in monthly payments. Families also have to put in at least 350 “sweat equity” hours of work into their home or another Habitat project, Mullis said.

The special thing about Habitat is that it only charges homeowners for the actual cost to build the house, and the organization also doesn’t charge any interest on homes, Mullis said.

“That brings the house payment down to where families that we serve can afford them,” he said.

Because of Habitat’s connections, some items for the homes are donated and other items, such as insulation and appliances, are sold to Habitat at a discount price.

Habitat also gets its homes up as quick as possible, depending on when the family completes its sweat equity hours.

“We have built them in as short a time as a week, (but) most of the time it’s 90 days,” Mullis said.

Habitat has built about 220 homes in Valdosta so far, and the organization’s work brings stable, affordable housing to families who otherwise wouldn’t have it, Mullis said.

“The families that are in our homes, 90 percent or greater of them would not ever be able to afford a home of their own without us, mainly because of the threshold of their income,” Mullis said.

Mullis added that since Habitat homes are all Energy Star certified, they have a much lower consumption of power, which saves the families on monthly bills.