The Grey Bruce chapter of Habitat for Humanity is marking National Housing Day.
It’s described as a day dedicated to raising awareness about housing and homelessness.
Executive Director Greg Fryer says that it’s a day where the organization recognizes the need for affordable housing across Canada, and in Grey Bruce.
“We’re at crisis level, we have been for quite some time now coming out of the pandemic, and the need for affordable, attainable housing has never been greater,” he said during an interview with Bayshore News.
Fryer says that they’ve been raising money for a future build in Owen Sound, which can help families with low-to-medium incomes to become homeowners.
Home ownership rates have dropped in both Bruce and Grey Counties since 2006, with housing becoming further and further out of reach for many families.
When Habitat for Humanity polled Canadians for their 2024 Affordable Housing Survey, 84% of respondents said that buying a home feels like a luxury and 81% said that owning their own home in Canada now feels out of reach.
Fryer said that provincial bills such as Bill 27, More Homes Built Faster, can be helpful, but securing land and funding can be slow.
“The process of developing a project takes a lot of time, and is costly,” he explained. “And because we sell brand new homes, HST is applied, and we have to pay that HST. For every eight houses we build, if HST were to be removed, we could afford to build one more house.”
Habitat Grey Bruce has a long wait list of applicants trying to get into a Habitat home, and get at least a new inquiry every week for a new family interested in becoming a Habitat family.
For 2025, they’ll continue doing work in Saugeen Ojibway Nation to help alleviate housing issues in the community, including critical repairs for existing homes.
The organization completed two builds in May of this year, and two homes are scheduled to be finished on the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation by the end of 2024.
Fryer said that being able to help families achieve home owning success is incredibly rewarding.
“It feels wonderful,” he said. “To see our families receive the keys to their new home from us… the joy is overwhelming. The relief of stress from what they currently had been living in. Many of our families have been moving quite often because they’ve been trying to find an affordable rental, but haven’t been able to. Once they move into a Habitat home, knowing that their payments are geared to their income – no more than 25% of their income – building equity over time… that relief of stress is huge.”
Applications are accepted through the Habitat Grey Bruce website.