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Victoria Grizzlies celebrate the start of a new season at Bear Mountain Page A15
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Making the unaffordable
AFFORDABLE
Habitat for Humanity helps write inspiring success stories by making good use of a hand-up housing philosophy. The not-for-profit organization grants families in need with no-interest mortgages made through ‘sweat equity.’
Don Descoteau News Staff
Battling a landlord about mould in a bedroom of their rented apartment was not Sarah Howard and Kenny Bragg's idea of fun. The young Victoria couple were already struggling to make ends meet, trying desperately to get ahead in life and provide a decent living environment for their young daughter, Kailyn. It was a time in which they bounced from one apartment to another. Recalling those days from a few years back as they sit at their kitchen table in the Bethune Avenue "flexplex" built by Habitat for Humanity Victoria, they shake their heads at where they were. "It was paycheque to paycheque," Howard recalls. Their last apartment was in what they felt was a dangerous neighbourhood, where drug activity and other disruptions were common. Oct. 1 will mark one year that the family has been in their own place. They're paying a mortgage to Habitat, making minor alterations to their living space and even learning what it's like to have a renter. "My first landlord call came at 12:30 a.m. and it was to go down and kill a spider," Bragg says, laughing. The basement suite income was needed to cover the mortgage, Howard says, but has allowed them some breathing room. It's part of Habitat's strategy of giving people a hand up. "What they want you to do is get yourself in a better financial position," Howard says.
Don Descoteau/News staff
Kenny Bragg and Sarah Howard, with their daughter Kailyn, are nearing the one-year anniversary of moving into this Habitat for Humanity-built townhome complex in Saanich. Working with the organization to purchase their own home has changed their lives, they say. "We couldn't save anything before. Now we're contributing to an RESP for Kailyn and we have extra room to be able to save." Habitat for Humanity Victoria has built 18 homes since 2000, most recently the Bethune fiveplex in 2010. The concept is simple: future homeowners perform at least 500 hours of "sweat equity" in exchange for a no-interest mortgage on a brand-
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new home, built largely with donated materials and labour. A flexible payment plan, based on household income, sees families pay between 25 and 30 per cent of their take-home pay on the mortgage, far less than most lower-income families spend on accommodation. PLeAse see: Families pay off mortgages, Page A7
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