The year 2013 promises to be an active one for those involved in My First Home in the Battlefords.
They signed the agreement last fall to partner up with Habitat for Humanity of Saskatoon to launch a local organization entitled Friend of Habitat Saskatoon - The Battlefords. Now they are busy getting organized for what they hope will be their first Habitat build in the Battlefords in 2013.
It was decided to launch the local Battleford organization under the umbrella of Habitat Saskatoon as opposed to setting up a completely new local chapter. That latter avenue would have meant seeking status as a charity under Revenue Canada, which would have been difficult.
Under this setup, Habitat Saskatoon provides administrative support including sending out tax receipts and helping hire a site manager. That allows the local volunteers to concentrate on the home build itself and all the work that entails.
My First Home Inc. talked to Habitat for Humanity about partnering as early as 2009. Having the agreement finally in place has been extremely beneficial, My First Home-Habitat Battlefords chair Ed Truelove says, in terms of the support they have provided.
"They're literally like mentors to us - we don't have to be starting out from scratch on these things," he said.
The immediate priority is on getting organized for their first home build. Both Truelove, and Nadine Parohl, director with the local organization, say they hope to be able to start their first Habitat build in the Battlefords sometime later this year.
One of their decisions is to figure out where to build their first home. The organization has been writing letters to both the City of North Battleford and the Town of Battleford, seeking information into potential lots that might be suitable for a Habitat build.
They are seeking a lot that will accommodate a duplex to house two families seeking a home in the Battlefords. The size would be a regular 50- by 120-foot lot, or in the case of Battleford, 66 by 99 feet.
While it would seem likely that only one new duplex will be built in 2013, they are not ruling out the possibility of perhaps doing two builds at once - one in North Battleford and the other in Battleford.
My First Home-Habitat says that once the lot is picked, things will move forward quickly. Once a lot is selected and the funds are in place, said Truelove, then Habitat Saskatoon would supply the building manager or at least assist the local organization in selecting one, and then begin the work in rounding up the necessary materials to start building.
Truelove estimates the build itself is likely to take place over about eight months.
Right now, the local organization is still in early stages of getting itself set up.
"We're just getting organized," said Truelove. "We're right now looking at some fundraising, getting our committees organized."
They hope to have four committees - fundraising, volunteer co-ordination, family selection and one for the building site. Right now they have five directors in place including someone in charge of volunteer co-ordination, but are still looking for a fundraising head and so they are looking for additional people to take part.
Truelove says they need to raise about $100,000 to begin the build. The plan is to hold a community meeting in March to launch the fundraising campaign and seek more volunteers.
Once they are set up, they plan to get on with the work of selecting those low-income families who will be the recipients of the Habitat build.
The families would need to meet the Habitat income requirements and be prepared to take part in obtaining the 500 hours of "sweat equity" required to qualify for a Habitat home. Those hours can be met by doing such things as participating in other Habitat builds or by volunteering at Habitat's Re-store in Saskatoon.
The plan is for the local committee to do the initial interviewing and Habitat Saskatoon would join them in making a final decision.
Habitat's mission is to promote homeownership as a way to break the cycle of poverty. The families selected for a Habitat build would receive an affordable and sustainable no-interest mortgage for their own home.
The mortgage would be held by Habitat Saskatoon, with monthly mortgage payments going to a revolving fund that is used by Habitat to buy more land and build more homes.
The families would own the title to their home at the end of the process, but for the Battlefords build it was also noted they would need to agree to owning a duplex. The duplex can house a single family unit of about four or five people.
Truelove says the family selection can start early on in the process so they can get started immediately on obtaining their 500 hours.
They can also have the opportunity to work on building their own house during the build itself. Parohl remembers taking part in a build in Saskatoon.
"The couple who were going to be moving into it were working in the house and getting so excited."
The hope is to get the actual building of the new home commenced sometime in mid-2013.
The whole process is a bit of a learning curve for those involved. "We're all a little green on it," Truelove noted.
There has been no shortage of enthusiasm. Truelove noted that so far their efforts have been met with positive support from throughout the community. A number of volunteers had already come forward at their meeting last fall, and a few more have joined since then. Some have volunteered to serve on a committee while others say they want to help in the building process.
"It's a real investment in the community," said Parohl. "Anyone can invest in it some way, whether it is help or work on a committee or whatever."
"It really fits especially in a small community like this because people can donate funds, donate time and whatever," said Truelove. "When it's all done it's something that's physically there that they could look at it and say 'you know I had a part in that.'"
