Habitat Is Building 200 Homes in Magnolia. The Class You Take First Is at the Library on the 19th.
By The Magnolia Standard · September 11, 2026
Four houses are up on the 81 acres. The next families in are picked partly by who shows up on two Saturdays this month at Malcolm Purvis.
Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery County broke ground on Marble Creek last December: 81 acres southwest of Magnolia, donated by the Chimenti family, platted for more than 200 homes, with parks, trails and a pavilion in the plan. In July, during a one-month Blitz Build, the first four houses went up. LGI Homes framed and finished three of them in five days.
Now the organization is taking applications for the houses that come next, and the front door to that process is in Magnolia. Two Saturdays this month, both at the Malcolm Purvis Library, 510 Melton St.
The first is a Homebuyer Education Seminar on Saturday, September 19, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., in the library's meeting room. Habitat lists attending it as step one of the application. The second, on Saturday, September 26, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., is what they call a Fast Track Application Event: you reserve an appointment, bring certified documents, and a staff member reviews the application with you on the spot. Habitat does not take walk-ins or online applications, so the appointment is the application. Both sessions require registration. The number is 936-441-4663.
Who qualifies is written down, and it is not vague. Household income has to fall between 50 and 80 percent of the county's area median. For a family of four that is $52,000 to $83,200 a year. For one person, $36,400 to $58,250. Applicants have to show a need for safe housing, qualify for a mortgage through a third-party lender, pass a background screening and put in sweat-equity hours on the build. The home is bought, not given. What Habitat changes is the price and the terms.
Who has already been picked tells you something about the pool. One of the first four homes went to a teacher in Magnolia ISD's ABLE program. Another went to a local mother. People with jobs in town who could not get to the front of the line at market prices.
The library is not incidental here. Malcolm Purvis has spent this fall turning its meeting room into the place the county's programs actually reach people on this side of the county. Two free Navigating Medicare seminars this month, ahead of the October 15 start of open enrollment. A Silent Book Club on the 21st for anyone who wants ninety minutes of quiet with other readers. The branch started in one room of the county annex in 1985 and has had the whole building on Melton to itself since 2010. Hours are 9 to 8 on Monday, 9 to 6 Tuesday through Thursday, 9 to 5 Friday and Saturday.
Habitat has raised a little over $6 million of the $11 million it says Marble Creek needs. If you are not applying and want to help, that is the other number. If you are applying, the 19th is the day that counts. It is nine days out.
Sources: Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery County's Homeownership Program page at habitatmctx.org (application steps, income limits by household size, the September 19 and 26 dates and the November follow-up dates, requirements, phone and email); the Malcolm Purvis Library event calendar for September 2026 (times, meeting room, registration, the Medicare seminars and the Silent Book Club); the Montgomery County Memorial Library System's branch page (address, hours, branch history); Woodlands Online's June 5 and July 28, 2026 reports on Marble Creek (81 acres, 200-plus homes, the Chimenti donation, the Blitz Build partners, the first two dedications, the $6 million raised toward $11 million); Montgomery County News on the December 2025 foundation ceremony (location southwest of Magnolia, the pavilion, parks and trails). Income figures are Habitat's published 2026 limits and change with the federal update. Corrections to editor@themagnoliastandard.news.