RePair & CityHousing Hamilton

Habitat for Humanity Hamilton and CityHousing Hamilton have partnered to bring vacant housing units within the city back online. This partnership has Habitat Hamilton rehabilitating affordable housing units for families to make the units safe and habitable once again.

The partnership between Habitat Hamilton and CityHousing Hamilton addresses two primary needs in Hamilton. First, the need for safe and affordable housing in our local communities – the units are owned and operated by CityHousing Hamilton and provide affordable, rent geared-to-income housing for families in need. Second, by engaging local youth to perform most of the construction and rehabilitation activities, under trained supervision, Hamilton youth are provided a unique opportunity to gain valuable construction experience and knowledge in the skilled trades.

The collaboration will help put family units back online as quickly and efficiently as possible, while providing our local youth the chance to gain hands-on training and experience in real-life settings. In addition, CityHousing can complete the necessary renovations at a significant cost reduction by partnering with Habitat Hamilton.

Habitat Hamilton has been engaging local youth on its build sites for many years through its Youth Build Program. The partnership with CityHousing Hamilton is an extension of those activities for the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP) secondary students. Students learn the skilled trades with on-site training and mentorship by an experienced construction team. An emphasis is placed on teaching valuable trade skills, as well as soft skills that will aid students in future employment, such as time management and leadership.

We believe that the best way we can achieve our mission to make safe, affordable housing available to all is through partnerships like this one, which allows us to support a greater number of lives within our community, beyond our current programs. It is an exciting opportunity to increase our impact on the community, and help Hamilton families build strength, stability and self-reliance through shelter.

The community can get involved in this initiative by volunteering their time on-site on during one of our many Community Build Day opportunities. For more information about volunteer opportunities, please contact volunteers@habitathamilton.ca.