“It might sound silly but the best part of that whole day was moving into my own bedroom — it had a door on it,” Patti says.
After having spent more than seven years struggling to pay rent Patti began to feel as though she was accomplishing something important. She knew paying her mortgage meant she was building equity.
Fourteen-year-old Roberta has grown up since she moved in with her mom. She doesn’t remember much about the rental house but does remember watching their home take shape.
“Arthur and I would walk from there to here on the weekends to watch mom work and talk to her because we were kind of scared to be on our own,” says Roberta.
With just 11 years left on her mortgage Patti keeps a clean home and looks forward to the day she can officially call it her own. Now a student at Crescent Heights High School, Roberta says she knows other kids who have moved around a lot and is thankful she hasn’t had to.
“Having this house has definitely improved our lives,” Patti says. “I’m still
the same person I was but now I know there is a roof over our heads, which is a big concern when you have children and a big relief. I used to moved around a lot when I was young so being able to stay in one spot has been nice.”
Habitat for Humanity has been active locally since 1996. The volunteer-driven not-for-profit organization is responsible for stabilizing 10 families to date, and the Armstrongs are just one example of a family uplifted by its efforts. Habitat for Humanity Medicine Hat board chair Al Carruthers says the organization has already built nine homes, renovated another and is currently working toward completion of its 11th new home.
Carruthers is at the helm of the non- profit, which relies heavily upon a volunteer workforce. Skilled tradesmen are needed on every site to help install everything from rafters to heating systems and Carruthers says it hasn’t been difficult to recruit that help in Medicine Hat.
“We’ve actually had to slow construction on a few of our sites,” he says. “We never build more house than we can afford or more houses than we have families who qualify.”
He says the local business community
has been very generous — donating shingles, insulation, windows, concrete, and splitting the cost of air conditioning systems in the past. He adds many of the same faces and logos show up on every site. Carruthers admits all volunteers happily work together to get the job done and praises the City of Medicine Hat for donating the land for each build.
“It creates a win-win situation for both parties,” says Carruthers. “We plunk a little house on the land and family that moves in starts paying taxes on the property.”
Habitat for Humanity Medicine Hat has concentrated its building efforts in an area of the city known as the Flats. Carruthers says, in most cases, the newly constructed homes have elevated the profile of the neighbourhood. Each family approved by the local Habitat for Humanity selection committee must prove it has the ability to maintain their mortgage payments and donate a minimum of 500 hours of ‘sweat equity’ toward the construction of their home.
A realtor assesses each home, fair market value is applied, and a mortgage is written at zero per cent interest with help from a lawyer. Because the new homeowners sweat equity counts as
Al Carruthers is the Medicine Hat Chapter representative of Habitat For Humanity.
their down payment all they have to do is maintain their monthly payments and property taxes.
“The money from those mortgage payments is plowed right into our next build — we don’t keep any of it,” says Carruthers. “Financially our builds are also supported by the Restore.’
The Restore is much more than just a place to find a "gem in the rough,” but a donation location for gently-used building materials and a profitable business.
“The whole objective of the ReStore is to turn product into cash, just like any other business. The difference between us and them is every dollar earned, after expenses for the store are deducted, is plowed right back into our next build.” ■
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OUR COMMUNITIES ■ OUR REGION ■ OUR PEOPLE | 77
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