Habitat for Humanity builds modular homes for families
Habitat for Humanity recently teamed up with volunteers from GreenTerra to help assemble 2 modular homes.
The project is based in Cobourg, Ontario, where volunteers got together to make sure that two local families achieved their dream of home ownership. Green Terra Homes- an advocate for sustainable, debt-free living, donated the framing kits for the two houses that are now complete. The partnership gave 2 families a safe and wonderful place to call home.
Green Terra Homes is Canada’s first and only CWB CSA QAI certified steel frame modular home factory. Their mission is very much in concert with Habitat for Humanity’s – to make it easier for families to build the home of their dreams. In early 2016, the company approached Habitat for Humanity Canada about a partnership to donate framing kits to Habitat affiliates in Ontario.
The build kicked off in the early summer and hosted a series of volunteer teams over the summer including family and friends teams as well as numerous dedicated individual volunteers. The build has also been a skills training opportunity two days a week for participants in the current Skills Link project with the Community Training and Development Centre.
“We are so excited to be working with a local company to help us reduce the cost of construction,” says Meaghan Macdonald, Executive Director for Habitat Northumberland. “We rely on support to continue to build affordable housing and serve local families. That support comes in many ways including donations of cash, materials and of time. Green Terra Homes has not only donated the full framing kits for these two houses and they also spent time with us onsite to help us put together the kits.”
Once completed, the families who purchased the homes became the 49th and 50th Habitat families in Northumberland County!
About Habitat for Humanity Northumberland
Habitat for Humanity Northumberland is one of 69 Habitat affiliates in Canada. It’s a member of Habitat for Humanity International, which has built, rehabilitated, repaired or improved more than 600,000 houses worldwide, providing shelter for more than 3 million people.
A Hand Up, Not a Hand Out
The families that are supported through Habitat for Humanity are caught in the vicious cycle of poverty. Many are forced to make impossible choices between such essentials as shelter and food, between paying rent and paying utility bills. These are choices no family should have to make.
The goal at Habitat for Humanity, as well as for partners like GreenTerra Homes, is to break the cycle of poverty through promoting homeownership. Habitat achieves this mission through their Homeownership Program which helps individuals and families in financially vulnerable situations build and buy quality affordable homes. They aim to break barriers to homeownership by enabling families to purchase their own home.
Habitat for Humanity homes are sold with:
- No down-payment
- Interest-free mortgages
- Mortgage payments set at 25% of gross income
- Homeowner training and support services
This program ensures affordable housing while allowing families to build equity for the future and contribute back to the community.
Combined with the sustainable building practices of GreenTerra Homes, these families are being given the opportunity of a lifetime.
In order to qualify for this program, homebuyers must be able to demonstrate their need, be able to carry a mortgage, and contribute a minimum of 500 hours of “sweat equity” into building their own home or providing other assistance to Habitat for Humanity. For more information on applying to own a Habitat for Humanity home click here.
Established June 2012, Green Terra Homes (GTH) is the first and only CWB CSA certified steel frame home factory in Canada. They are also one of the few facilities in Canada with multiple CSA Certifications for the production of RV Homes, Mobile Homes, Modular Homes, Park Model Homes (tiny) and prefabricated kit homes. This means that they offer the perfect variety of models for comparison when considering real estate assets. Aside from manufactured homes, they also offer RV Series Tiny Homes , small prefab Tiny Homes that are complete QAI Certified to CSA Z240 RV standards, modular homes and more. Because of the certification that these are built with- they provide the highest level of security as far as getting insurance and financing.
To learn more contact them:
Or call toll-free:
USA:800-403-8894
Canada:800-496-0981
Fax:888-419-0827
Manufacturing Facility – 10 Douglas Road, Quinte West ON K0K 1B0