Homeownership

How to become a Future Homeowner.

Do you dream of becoming a homeowner? Habitat for Humanity Grey Bruce can help. Read our homeownership criteria and fill out an Expression of Interest form and possibly become a Habitat homeowner.

Homeownership Criteria

Need for affordable housing

Habitat for Humanity Grey Bruce homeowners are selected, in large part, based on their level of need. Families will be considered for a Habitat home if their present housing is not adequate and if they are unable to afford adequate housing through other conventional means. Habitat Grey Bruce follows Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporations (CMHC) standards when determining core housing need. Follow link to CMHC website.

More Details

Adequate housing

Adequate housing does not require any major repairs, according to residents. Major repairs include those to defective plumbing or electrical wiring, or structural repairs to walls, floors or ceilings.

Affordable housing

Affordable housing costs less than 30% of before-tax household income. Shelter costs include the following:

For renters: rent and any payments for electricity, fuel, water and other municipal services
For owners: mortgage payments (principal and interest), property taxes, and any condominium fees, along with payments for electricity, fuel, water and other municipal services

Suitable Housing

Suitable housing has enough bedrooms for the size and make-up of resident households, according to National Occupancy Standard (NOS) requirements. Enough bedrooms based on NOS requirements means one bedroom for:

each cohabiting adult couple
each lone parent
unattached household member 18 years of age and over
same-sex pair of children under age 18
and additional boy or girl in the family, unless there are two opposite sex children under 5 years of age, in which case they are expected to share a bedroom

Willingness to partner

Each family selected for homeownership with Habitat for Humanity Grey Bruce becomes a partner with us in the journey toward affordable homeownership. Habitat families are considered our greatest ambassadors and as such are asked to help us with a variety of initiatives that advance our mission.

Each selected family will be asked to fulfill the following partnership requirements:

Be an ambassador for Habitat for Humanity Grey Bruce and represent the mission – this involves (1) understanding and agreeing with our model, (2) speaking about your experience with Habitat for Humanity Grey Bruce at events, in media interviews or in videos to help promote our organization’s work to other families, donors and volunteers
Contribute a minimum of 500 hours of volunteer ‘sweat equity’ toward the construction of their own home or a variety of other Habitat projects (350 hours for single parent households)
Commit to a homeownership and mortgage agreement with Habitat for Humanity Grey Bruce
Attend Homeowner Education workshops to learn about the responsibilities of homeownership

Ability to pay a mortgage

Habitat for Humanity Grey Bruce does not give homes away for free. Families must demonstrate their ability to pay a mortgage back to Habitat for Humanity Grey Bruce.

Total family income must be sufficient to pay a mortgage and other housing costs
Ontario Works is not an acceptable source of income
Applicants will be asked to submit a current credit report that shows good credit history. Other documents required (but are not limited to) – paystubs, employment letters, account history, proof of rent being paid
No recent bankruptcies (must have been discharged three or more years)

What Habitat Means...

“A happy, comfortable house, where we no longer have to be concerned about our children getting sick.”

-Josie Dingler, 2018 Habitat Homeowner