Millard Fuller, founder and president of Habitat for Humanity, has announced he will leave the organization on August 1. His decision came on April 22 after Habitat’s board asked him to accept a new role emphasizing speaking and fund raising for the ecumenical Christian housing ministry. According to Dennis Meola, Habitat’s director of communications, Fuller had planned to move from Atlanta to the organization’s headquarters in Americus, Georgia, to take a more active role in daily management. Rather than be made a “ceremonial president” under conditions set by the board, Fuller told Religious News Service, he offered his resignation.
The controversy may lead to the end of former President Jimmy Carter’s long-standing involvement with the organization, which builds low-cost housing around the world. In a statement released one day after Fuller resigned, Carter referred to the Habitat difficulties as “something of a power struggle.”
Carter added that he and his wife, Rosalyn, pray that the organization’s board “will be able to resolve the arguments and preserve a spirit of inspired service that has characterized Habitat from its inception under Millard Fuller.”
The Carters will fulfill commitments to Habitat through June 1992, Habitat’s Meola said. Since 1984, the Carters have spent at least one week each year working on Habitat projects. A “Jimmy Carter Work Project” is scheduled for June in Miami.
Fuller’s resignation comes about one year after allegations of sexual harassment were made against him by five female workers, who said Fuller had made improper contact and inappropriate sexual comments on the job. However, Meola said the matter had been resolved and that Fuller’s resignation was not linked to the complaints.
Habitat for Humanity has 560 affiliates in the United States and more than 100 projects in 30 developing nations. The group was honored recently at a White House-sponsored “Points of Light Service” for the ten-thousandth low-cost home it has built since 1976.
