Our Home Build Program

We implement an on-going development model called the Home Build Program. Within this program, we build homes and provide interest-free and geared-to-income mortgages to hard-working and deserving families who otherwise could not afford homeownership.

A Habitat home is a strong foundation for a family, an opportunity on which they can build a better life. Strong and stable homes help build strong and stable communities. Providing better and affordable living conditions, Habitat’s Home Build Program leads to improved health, stronger childhood development and the ability—and financial flexibility—to make forward-looking choices. An affordable mortgage helps homeowners save more, invest in education, pursue opportunity and have more financial stability.

Here at Habitat for Humanity Hamilton, we truly believe that the most important way for families to gain stability and self-reliance is when they own their own homes. Every day, more and more families are caught in punishing cycles of unpredictable rent increases, overcrowded conditions, or lack of access to land and affordable financing. Affordable homeownership frees families and fosters the skills and confidence they need to invest in themselves and their communities. The outcome can be both long-lasting and life-changing.

Beyond serving current Habitat homeowners, our model is built with a forward-thinking scope. Monthly mortgage payments made by homeowners get deposited into a revolving fund, held by Habitat for Humanity Hamilton. This fund, referred to as The Fund for Humanity, is reinvested directly back into the Home Build Program, helping us help even more families in need.

Beyond our mission to build homes and help families, we also provide experiential learning opportunities to secondary students throughout the community through our Youth Build Program. Habitat Hamilton has been providing experiential learning opportunities to students for over ten years, doubling our build-sites as real-world classrooms.

Alongside teachers, our construction team trains OYAP (Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program) secondary students–Monday to Friday–mentoring and providing them with many valuable work-skills that relate, but are not limited to, framing, servicing, insulation installation, drywall installation, flooring, trim, carpentry and exterior landscaping. Beyond the work-related skills attained on site, students also develop a strengthened sense of community engagement.

What makes our development model especially unique is our ability to address poverty reduction, twofold. Not only does our Home Build Program help families break out of the cycle of poverty, with a lasting impact, but our Youth Build Program also helps prevent poverty by providing youth with educational and work-related skills, at an early age.