Habitat for Humanity Nova Scotia breaks ground on first affordable housing project in Pictou County

The Pictou County Chapter of Habitat for Humanity Nova Scotia was formed in 2018 to address the growing need for affordable housing in Pictou County Communities. In 2019, the Pictou County Chapter of Habitat for Humanity was generously gifted a piece of land by the Town of Stellarton. Since then, the Pictou County Chapter has been actively fundraising to build their first Habitat Home in Stellarton in 2022. Habitat for Humanity Nova Scotia kicked-off this project with a groundbreaking ceremony on May 5, 2022.  

Ed Kennedy, Chair of the Pictou County Chapter is proud to be a part of the first Habitat project in Pictou County. 

“As Chair of the Habitat Pictou County Chapter for the past year, I have had the privilege of working with a dedicated team of enthusiastic volunteers to make our first Home Build a reality. The community support for this project has been outstanding, with many local businesses and organizations making financial contributions and gifts-in-kind of labor and materials, and dozens of citizens coming forward to participate in the home construction. Habitat for Humanity is making a wonderful contribution to helping families in need of affordable housing in Nova Scotia and our Chapter is proud to be part of this important work.”  

Donna Williamson, Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity Nova Scotia looks forward to working with the Pictou County Chapter to make affordable homeownership a reality for a local family from the community.  

“We are excited to work alongside the local chapter to build safe, affordable, and decent housing in Pictou County for a local family, and we have been overwhelmed with support from the community.”  

The Government of Canada is proud to be investing $60 000 in the project. This investment is made possible through a three-year $32.4 million partnership with Habitat for Humanity Canada under the National Housing Strategy’s (NHS) National Housing Co-investment Fund (NHCF). 

“Our partnership with Habitat for Humanity Canada is making a real difference, here in Stellarton, by soon providing a local family with a home that they can proudly call their own,” said the Honorable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship and Member of Parliament for Central Nova. “The Government of Canada looks forward to continuing our collaboration with Habitat for Humanity to meet the challenges of housing supply and affordability in Nova Scotia and across Canada.” 

Families for Habitat for Humanity homes are selected on the basis of need, their ability to repay a no-down payment, no-interest mortgage, and their commitment to volunteer 500 hours of sweat equity toward their home and community. We are at the end of the family selection process for this project and look forward to making affordable homeownership a reality for the successful partner family in Pictou County. 

About Habitat for Humanity Nova Scotia 

Its provincial roots were established in 1992, Habitat for Humanity Nova Scotia is a non-profit organization working towards a Nova Scotia where everyone has a safe and decent place to live. To date, we have helped more than 70 families throughout the province achieve the goal of successful homeownership. An affiliate of Habitat for Humanity Canada, the organization forms part of the more than 63,000 volunteers every year and more than 56 affiliate organizations from coast to coast whose mission is to mobilize volunteers and community partners in building affordable housing and promoting homeownership as a means of enabling a better life for families and their children. For more information, please visit www.habitatns.ca