'Housing crisis hope' — Habitat for Humanity celebrates 30 years in Windsor-Essex

Published Jul 04, 2024 • Last updated 13 hours ago • 3 minute read

The Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Windsor is shown on Thursday, July 4, 2024. The organization is celebrating its 30th anniversary with special events at the location on Saturday. Photo by Dan Janisse /Windsor Star

There’s no single magical solution to the current housing crisis, but Habitat for Housing offers a sliver of immense hope to some of those in most desperate need.

“Some of our families were spending 75 to 95 per cent of their wages on rent — incredibly insecure,” said Hope Lovell, director of community outreach with Habitat for Humanity Windsor-Essex.

“Now, they’re going from rent they can’t afford to home ownership they can afford — it’s an incredibly impactful change in their lives,” Lovell told the Star.

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And that H4H impact is also felt “exponentially” in the local community, she said, across generations and across neighbourhoods.

“When we build a home, it’s not a solution for that moment, it’s affordable housing ownership, permanently,” she said.

It means stability so parents don’t have to worry over keeping a roof over their heads, and children are more likely to achieve more and go further with their education. The new homes provide growing equity for their owners and added value on local streets.

Eligible families “in core housing need” join other volunteers and put sweat equity into building decent, modest homes they then own outright, paying affordable mortgages. H4H promotes home ownership “as a means to break the cycle of poverty.”

Habitat for Humanity Windsor-Essex is building five homes in Sandwich Town this year, about to embark on homes No. 86 and 87 on Peter Street. The fifth and final build of 2024 (local home build No. 88) will be refurbishing a vacant and dilapidated home on Brock Street.

On Saturday (July 6), the local organization puts down its tools to celebrate three decades of “building homes, communities and hope.”

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The public is invited to attend at Habitat ReStore, 51 Edinborough St., from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will be carnival-style games, music, prizes, food and drinks, and a “maker’s market” with 20 local artisans showcasing arts, crafts, jewelry and more.

Emma Caldwell-Dumouchelle, an employee at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Windsor, moves a piece of furniture on Thursday, July 4, 2024. The organization celebrates its 30th anniversary at the Edinborough Street location this Saturday. Photo by Dan Janisse /Windsor Star

From noon until 2 p.m., staff and volunteers will joust, tug-of-war and relay race in a mini-Olympiad.

The ReStore — “an integral part of Habitat for Humanity” — will offer once-a-year discounts on donated furniture, building supplies and other materials, the sales of which help fund H4H’s operations.

Lovell said Saturday’s visitors can find out more about how to donate or volunteer, and families who have been turned into home owners will also be in attendance.

After decades of constructing homes, usually from the ground up, but wanting to have an even greater impact, “we’re changing the way we build,” said Lovell.

Most recently, H4H Windsor-Essex put out the call to local developers, seeking partnerships, “so we can be part of affordable housing in every new development,” she said. “We’re always having an eye on how we can do things differently.”

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Saturday’s 30th anniversary gathering is “our way to give back and celebrate our shared success over the past three decades,” said Justin Fox, board chair of Habitat for Humanity Windsor-Essex.

“The ReStore, so important to our ability to build, is the perfect location to reflect on the profound impact of this work as we look toward a future overflowing with possibilities to build more and build faster,” he said.

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