Not one, but three Habitat for Humanity homes are coming available in Grand Forks.
The houses on 72nd Avenue will welcome new families during various times this year as previous families move on after getting a leg up.
One is available right now while the other two will be available later this summer and in the fall after some renovations and landscaping.
Executive director Elaine Pura says the program has changed from getting cash-strapped families a forever home to allowing them to build equity and enter the housing market.
“We’ve adjusted our programming a little bit and our mortgage models to allow for that. It’s much more challenging in the last five years…the whole housing market and the cost to build has risen so dramatically,” Pura told Vista Radio.
All the homes are half duplex, three bedroom units and applications are open. The application process takes one to two months.
Pura says low and moderate income families looking for their first home are eligible in order to get a leg up into the housing market.
“For the three Grand Forks homes, the way we calculate the gross income your family is bringing in, it’s between $35,000 and $55,000,” Pura explained. Families also need to demonstrate they have stable employment, a stable income and good money management. Priority is given to Grand Forks and Boundary residents.
The program provides a geared-to-income mortgage making sure that all housing costs never exceed 30 per cent of family income. Families have to provide 500 hours of volunteer work as part of the agreement.
While Habitat’s headquarters are in Castlegar, Pura says Grand Forks has been a Habitat community for over 20 years and has the most homes in Southeast B.C. Grand Forks is also home to a Habitat for Humanity ReStore downtown. “It’s just doing better and better all the time. We have so much community support.” Proceeds from sales go to run the program.
Pura says there are no plans to build any new homes in Grand Forks in the foreseeable future with a “large inventory” of a dozen homes already built. She says attention has to be given to other communities in their territory, which stretches from east of the Okanagan to the Alberta border and north to Golden.
They are focusing right now on Castlegar and should have the occupancy permit some time this month for the new four-plex.
You can fill out an application on the Habitat for Humanity Southeast BC website by clicking here.