Habitat Halton

This month celebrates 10 years of Habitat in the region. Ten deserving families across halton now have a place to live. halton's region's 2008 Annual report identified a 300-800 unit gap for government assisted housing and affordable private housing. At the end of 2008, there were 1,888 households on waiting lists for social housing. Habitat fears the numbers will be much higher this year with the economic downturn.
Habitat sells homes to low income families on a non-profit, no-interest basis and provides interest free mortgages. The homeowner pays about 30% of their income toward the mortgage and each homeowner contributes about 500 hours into the build. This is part of a community feature by Christina Commisso that appeared in the Milton Champion on Wednesday November 11, 2009. It marks the launch of their ReNew program where they plan to build 28 properties in the region in the next 5 years. The full report indicates about 1,200 Halton residents becomes homeless due to the lack of affordable housing.