Habitat for Humanity Wellington Dufferin Guelph kicked off its 2018 Build Day season, allowing volunteers to work on a future 28-unit development on Cityview Drive South in Guelph.
Now that primary framing and roofing of Phase 1 is complete, Habitat for Humanity is inviting organizations and members of the community to volunteer their time to contribute to the project.
Many traditional Habitat for humanity projects are single residential units or town homes, but this project — named Cityview Village — is unique, said Amber Wood, senior manager of stakeholder programs for Habitat for Humanity WDG.
“We are actually doing a multi-residential stacked town home in order to support more families in need of affordable homes in our community,” said Wood.
Phase 1 is a 12-unit town home — includes single units, as well as 2 or 3-bedroom units — which will support new homeowners with a no interest, no down-payment mortgage.
Working in partnership with Community Living Guelph Wellington, many of the units will support a spectrum of needs in the community.
“We are supporting seniors, people with disabilities, as well as the typical single and dual-parent families,” said Wood.
Phase 2 is currently being framed and will offer eight units for new homeowners, while Phase 3 will eventually offer eight rental units.
“It’s market-affordable rent, but with an equity-sharing piece as well that is specific and unique to Habitat,” said Wood.
Organizations in the community can purchase a Build Day Experience, which allows up to 12 members to come on to the job site and contribute to the constructions, said Wood.
“They are leaving a legacy with us, so every time they drive past the site they can say ‘we built this house together as a team’. That’s something that will last a lifetime,” said Wood.
On Monday, members of the Guelph and District Association of Realtors were on site for one of the six Build Day Experiences the organization purchased.
Every Build Day Experience is an adventure, said Jeff Born, construction manager for Habitat for Humanity WDG.
“It can be anything from framing to insulating. Today we are doing some preparation for concrete floors,” said Born.
Mostly, said Born, they are a lot of fun.
“It’s great team-building. It helps people experience what the Habitat mission is and what its goals are,” said Born.
The Cityview Drive South property was once green lit by city council for a townhouse development over a decade ago, said Born, but that project never materialized.
Years later, one of the board members of Habitat was familiar with one of the owners of this property and they got together and discussed the possibility of selling the property to Habitat,” said Born.
Habitat for Humanity WDG made an offer for the the land and the project construction began in late fall of 2017.
The property offered a number of challenges for the build because it is situated on a hill.
“Engineering and servicing of the project was a large portion of our budget. Designing and making best use of the site and the beautiful views that we are experiencing now were part of the plan,” said Born.
Phase 1 is scheduled for occupancy starting in October.
