At Habitat for Humanity Nova Scotia, we believe the most important way for families to gain self-reliance, stability, and security is through affordable homeownership. With the Affordable Homeownership Program, we are able to build homes and provide families with interest-free mortgages that are geared towards their income (payments are capped at 30% of gross income). The families we partner with are willing and ready to take on the responsibility of homeownership through dedication, perseverance, and hard-work.
A Habitat home provides a foundation for a family where they can flourish and grow. Strong and stable homes help to build strong and stable communities. Through the Affordable Homeownership Program, families are able to secure safe and affordable living conditions, pursue opportunities, and have more financial stability. More and more families are in the cycle of unsafe and overcrowded living conditions, unpredictable rent increases, and a lack of access to affordable financing through traditional mortgages. Habitat for Humanity Nova Scotia’s Affordable Homeownership Program helps homeowner’s break free from this unforgiving system and allows them to develop and grow the skills they need to invest in themselves, their families, and their communities.
Our Affordable Homeownership Program doesn’t only benefit our current partner families, monthly mortgage payments made by homeowners get deposited into a revolving fund, held by Habitat for Humanity Nova Scotia. What does this mean? Well, this fund is reinvested directly back into the Affordable Homeownership Program, helping us help even more families in their journey towards homeownership.
Our impact is only as strong as the partnerships we form with our homeowners. And in order for our Affordable Homeownership Program to be successful, we need to ensure that our homeowners are a good fit. For this reason, our Homeowner Selection Process is quite rigorous. When selecting a potential homeowner, we consider the family’s level of need, their willingness to partner and their ability to pay their interest-free and geared-to-income mortgage.
