The Masood Alam family at its new Habitat for Humanity home on Tom Taylor Crescent in Newmarket. Habitat’s Candace Cook says not enough applications are coming in, even though the organization knows many families could use the help building their own home.
Regional News
August 28, 2008 09:05 PM
Amanda Persico
When you buy your own home, there’s a sense of pride and personal accomplishment.
For the Hayes family, that sense of pride and accomplishment is shown on callused hands.
“Our downpayment for our new home was our blood and sweat, our time,” said Shelly Hayes, owner of a house built by Habitat for Humanity in Newmarket. “But we pay our bills like everyone else. We have the same sense of pride of ownership as everyone else.”
Since 2001, Habitat for Humanity has built nine homes in York Region. The Hayes family was just one of the families approved for the home building program.
Mrs. Hayes filled out the appropriate paper work, including financial records and bank statements, hand-delivered the application and received a call from the organization later that night. Mrs. Hayes just happened to be at the right spot at the right time.
There are more than 6,500 families waiting for adequate housing in York Region, Habitat volunteer Candace Cook said.
“There’s no shortage of qualified applicants,” she said. “But there’s not enough applications coming through.”
The Habitat program is designed to help families caught in the middle — they make enough money to survive, but not enough to save. The program provides an interest-free mortgage for approved families who would not otherwise be approved for a mortgage through a bank.
“There’s a disconnect from the working poor,” Mrs. Cook said.
The requirements for Habitat applicants include the financial ability to pay monthly mortgage rates, the need for affordable housing, they have to live in substandard housing and be willing to partner with the organization.
“It’s not a free house. Home- owners still pay taxes, heat, hydro; all their bills,” Mrs. Cook said. “We don’t want to set families up for financial failure by not paying bills. We want to give them a push in the right direction.”
Mrs. Hayes read about Habitat’s services, thinking the organization only served disaster areas.
“I always thought (it) was for victims of a disaster, like a flood or fire,” Mrs. Hayes said. “But it’s for people like me. Not too much debt, but not too much income either.”
Instead of a monetary downpayment, families are required to put in 500 hours of sweat equity, either their own or from volunteers they recruited to help build the home.
“So many people came forward, friends, neighbours, family,” Mrs. Hayes said. “We had more hours put in than we needed.”
Within a six-month period, from the time of filing an application, the Hayes moved into their custom-built home.
The townhouse they were renting in Aurora was a split level, making it difficult for Mrs. Hayes to attend to her daughter, Kailey, when she had an epileptic seizure. Their new home was built with extra door stoppers and no locks on bathroom or bedroom doors.
For more information, contact the family selection committee at 905-868-8722 or visit
www.hfhyr.ca