Cityview Village rendering provded by Habitat WDG
A COMMUNITY FOR ALL 100
BY RACHELLE WATERMAN & CHRIS TIESSEN
Imagine cooking up an inclusive, affordable
so does the need for affordable homes as
community. If there were a recipe, the
more and more people are priced out of the
ingredients and method would be simple:
market.
begin with community support and leadership, add a splash of partnerships, mix in donations from individuals, blend in some leveraging, then bake on high. In real life, the ingredients are the same, but miss a step and the results may vary.
‘One part of our mission is to mobilize all parts of the community to build affordable housing,’ Steve Howard, CEO of Habitat WDG, explains. ‘This is the part of Habitat that most people associate us with, but it’s another part of our mission that creates a lasting
It’s this recipe that Habitat for Humanity
impact on our community. We build homes
Wellington Dufferin Guelph uses to achieve
to provide a hand-up into home ownership,
their vision of a world where everyone has
creating a platform for equity accumulation,
a safe, decent, and affordable place to live.
which is what enables the cycle of poverty to
With 24 builds under their toolbelt, the local
be broken.’
non-profit is now working on 30 more homes in Guelph, in a development called Cityview Village. This new multi-unit development – the first of its kind for Habitat WDG – will provide homes to single- and dual-parent families, people with disabilities, and senior citizens. Normally the organization builds one home a year, but as house prices continue to climb,
Equity accumulation is not a term heard very often in the affordable housing debate, but it’s this piece of their mission that Habitat WDG is striving to make known: affordable homes are a foundation for both personal and financial growth.