In early May we published a post about our groundbreaking ceremony for Crew-Goetz Landing, our newly opened build site on Queensway Drive in Burlington. This project is set to be our biggest build yet with 18 townhome units. Our volunteers and staff have been hard at work every day since our first corporate team day with Nissan Canada on July 11. Team after team have had fun-filled days on our site, whether volunteers were using a hammer for the first time or trying out the power saw. Not even the unseasonably scorching hot days this July have stopped our amazing volunteers from the challenging tasks we have set out for them.
What is now a busy construction site hosting corporate teams, individual volunteers and the Habitat crew every day will soon be a housing complex giving 18 incredibly deserving families a safe place to call home. It will also give these families the opportunity to start over and give them the skills and confidence needed to invest in their family and their community in the process. Eighteen families will no longer have to make difficult financial decisions every month like choosing between paying the electricity bill or putting food on the table.
Habitat for Humanity brings communities together to help families build strength, stability and independence through affordable homeownership. With the help of volunteers and Habitat homeowners, we build and rehabilitate safe, decent and affordable homes, including single-family and multi-unit houses.
This build is not only different and innovative because of its size but also because, with the help and support of the government, we have introduced a new housing model. To ensure that we are keeping housing affordable in Burlington, our new Deferred Home Ownership model combines renting and traditional home ownership. This means that Habitat families can move freely within their partnership with us without penalty and without cost to us, which again allows us to invest into more houses. With more flexibility than in our traditional model, the partner families, Habitat, and our community all benefit, while still offering a reliable pathway to homeownership.
We aim to make our homes affordable by adjusting monthly payments to be under 30 per cent of a family’s gross monthly income. Our partner families will be notified 120 days before we are able to give the house to them so they can begin their 500 hours of “sweat equity” volunteering which can be completed within two years of moving into a Habitat home.
Every program we run at Habitat for Humanity Halton-Mississauga supports the building of affordable housing in our community, because we believe that EVERYONE needs a place to call home. At Habitat, the work that we do is only possible with the generous donations we receive from the public and from our committed corporate partners.
Launched in May 2018, this project is estimated to be completed in about 18 months. This will require thousands of hours of work from our employees and volunteers. While working towards creating safe and affordable housing, we have received tremendous support from our Burlington community members. Each day we provide a lunch to volunteers working away on the build as part of our on-site experience, as well as a small token of our appreciation.
The expression, “It takes a village to raise a child” also applies to building a house. In the case of the Crew-Goetz Landing build, it takes a village to build 18 units. As the many staff and volunteers involved everyday in this build work hard to stay on-track, they work up an appetite, which is why we always provide a hearty lunch for everyone on the construction site.
However, as we are a nonprofit organization, we are always looking for ways to cut costs so that we can put more funds into our builds to keep them on track, as Habitat pays regular construction costs. This is why we always reaching out to local restaurants and caterers in the community who are willing and able to either donate lunches to our volunteers or give us a discount! We love reaching out and educating community members on what we are doing and the change that goes with it! When families get a hand up from Habitat, they make investments back into their community and the chance to improve their way of life.
Prominent food establishments in our community have risen to the challenge and donated meals to our construction site as a way to support the building of the homes and our incoming families.
We would like to highlight the donations from Topper’s Pizza at 2000 Appleby Line, Swiss Chalet & Harvey’s on 2422 Fairview St, and Champlain Cafe & Catering Burlington for their ongoing support for this project over the next 18 months. With partners like these ones, we are able to achieve our missions of a world where everyone has a safe and decent place to live.
As our Habitat affiliate’s largest build to date, we are as incredibly excited to watch the Queensway Drive property slowly transform into homes for many deserving families from our community who deserve a helping hand and a place to call home. From hammering framed walls together, to placing them on top of the foundation, our Crew-Goetz Landing site in underway and we could not be more excited and eager to see the property transform week by week!
If you are looking to partner with Habitat for Humanity Halton-Mississauga, please contact sazam@habitathm.ca to discuss food donation opportunities. We appreciate all the love and support we are receiving from the community!