Reader Response Forum
06/03/2010 05:06
Yet Another Voice On Habitat Issue
To correct the assumptions about Habitat being a 'handout' propagated by the letter from 'Aaron' regarding his mother and how 'today she should have just waited for a free home at someone else’s expense':
From the HabitatSC website (my local Habitat affiliate):
Habitat houses are sold to families, not given to them free of charge. In addition, families help to build their own home.
By building homes at low cost, requiring very little or no down payment, and not charging interest on the mortgage, Habitat for Humanity is able to provide an opportunity, or a “hand up”, to buy a home for families that would not otherwise qualify for a conventional mortgage.
More information can be found here:
Habitat homes are bought, and paid for, by the people who are living there. They are not 'handouts', and the people living there are carefully vetted to make sure they're working or have a steady income. There's no such thing as 'standing in line for a free home' with Habitat. (The woman who got our first build in our local affiliate was a single mother, working, with three children. If you drive by her house today, it's well maintained. She has the pride of 'home ownership' just like any other home owner.)
Aaron's mother may have actually qualified for a Habitat home, but it wouldn't have been a 'handout'. Most people who get Habitat homes are just average people who play by the rules - except that housing now-a-days has become totally unaffordable to people living on the bottom end of the economic scale. These people can afford rent - but they know, just as you and I know, that the best way to live and gain equity is to own a home, not make endless rent payments that don't build equity. But saving for the down-payment is usually the obstacle to home ownership. People who get Habitat homes are good citizens, and their homes do not 'detract' from the property values of their neighbours. Furthermore, the 'sweat equity' clause of the purchase means that people who get a Habitat home will then work to help others.
I have no opinion on this particular Habitat development in St. Albert, but I do have an opinion on the actual Habitat program, and really wish people would learn about the program before disparaging it as another 'handout'. It's not a handout. It's a hand up.
Elaine In BC
SINC SAYS:
Thanks for bringing some clarity to the debate Elaine. It looks like it was badly needed.
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