Sacwal’s Alanna Aarssen and an army of volunteers built and erected the walls for the 2019 Habitat for Humanity Chatham-Kent home build on Wood Street in Chatham. This year, Habitat plans on building a duplex, and encourages families to apply.
Wanted: Two families who dream of owning their own home.
That’s the word from Habitat for Humanity Chatham-Kent. The non-profit organization hopes to break ground on its next housing build later this month in Chatham. For the first time, it will erect two semi-detached homes, serving two local families.
What’s missing are the families to live in the homes.
“We don’t have any families finalized,” Anne Taylor, volunteer manager at Habitat C-K, said. “We hope if we build it, they will come.”
Mike Coyne, ReStore director, said he hoped when people read this story in The Voice, interest will increase.
“People who are in need should go to our website, fill out the application and see where it takes them,” he said.
Taylor advises those interested to visit habitatchatham-kent.ca and go to the homeownership tab. The qualification questionnaire on that site is “the perfect way to just start the conversation,” she said.
She added it is not as if Habitat C-K has not received applications, but that those who have done so do not at this time meet the criteria.
Coyne said that can change over time, as Habitat personnel can counsel people on making changes so they will qualify.
“If a family doesn’t qualify today, it doesn’t mean we can’t provide some guidance to get to the point where they would qualify (in the future),” Coyne said. “Our goal is to set them up for success and that they’re able to have the enjoyment of home ownership and not have it as a burden.”
A successful applicant moves into a home and pays a mortgage, interest free, Taylor said. Plus, they never pay more than 30 per cent of their gross income each year.
They also need to provide 500 hours of volunteer work for Habitat C-K. This can be done with the support of family members and friends.
Taylor said the volunteer hours don’t have to be completed by the time the duplex is built. Completing personal improvement courses online can contribute to the hours.
“We’ve tried to streamline the process to make it more manageable,” she said.
In the past, the organization has only built single detached homes, seven of them, across the municipality in Chatham, Wallaceburg, Charing Cross, Blenheim and Pain Court.
Taylor said it’s a new path for the organization, but one that makes the most sense.
“It’s financially more feasible for us. As you can imagine, it costs a lot of money to build a house. This (the semi-detached build) makes more financial sense and we get to house two families,” she said.
Coyne agreed.
“It’s the affordability aspect of it. Our goal is to have the value of each of the two units to be substantially less than a single-family home. That makes it a lot more affordable for the families,” he said.
One thing that is not changing this year compared to the 2021 build is the use of a contractor. Two years ago, in the heart of the pandemic, COVID-19 restrictions forced Habitat C-K to utilize a contractor and minimize volunteer support on the job site. Tradespeople had to be co-ordinated to minimize overlap and potential exposure, Coyne said.
“COVID changed a lot of the rules for the interaction of trades,” he said, “such as who could be on site at the same time. It kind of co-ordinated our last build. We’re trying to make it as simple as possible for the contractor.”
This time around, however, there will be some volunteer opportunities on the job site, albeit not the way it used to be, as volunteers from organizations, businesses and even families showed up to help.
“There will be volunteer opportunities and we have groups who have indicated they want to be part of it,” Taylor said. “There just aren’t as many volunteer opportunities as we had before COVID.”
However, there are plenty of options to support the project and Habitat C-K. Taylor said the organization has three key fundraisers set up this year, beginning with a Trivia Night at Red Barn Brewery on Aug. 17.
Habitat C-K is also hosting its golf tournament again this year at Maple City Country Club just east of Chatham, on Sept. 22.
Just two days later, the organization hosts a 5K/Half Marathon River Run, which will start and finish at the ReStore location on Riverview Line. It is a chipped event.
Potential participants, volunteers and sponsors can learn more at habitatchatham-kent.ca or by calling 519-352-4440.
