Family Selection Criteria
Applicants for a Habitat Housing Partnership are evaluated in three areas: their need for housing, their ability to pay their mortgage and their willingness to partner with Habitat.
Need
Applicants must be living in substandard housing and not qualify for conventional home financing.
Substandard housing might include one or more of the following: inadequate indoor plumbing, poor heating, leaking roof, overcrowding, unsafe or unsanitary conditions and/or consuming a large portion of income, etc.
Ability to Pay
Habitat family partners must be able to pay back their mortgage so they should be within a minimum/maximum income limit, with the limits being dependent on family size.
(Limits are based on the latest Statistics Canada low income cutoffs for Leeds & Grenville County )
At least 25% of the family's annual income must be earned income. Applicant's total debt payments including Habitat mortgage must be less than 50% of their total annual income.
Copies of the Income Tax Assessment forms of all adults in the family for the previous two years are required.
Current pay stubs, utility bills and information regarding all debts and payments, including debts and payments to the Federal, Provincial and Municipal governments must be submitted at the time of application.
Applicants may be required to obtain a statement from current and previous landlords referencing rent payment history and maintenance of accommodation.
Applicants will be disqualified for providing incomplete or misleading information.
Willingness to Partner
Approved applicants become Habitat Partners. Habitat Partners must agree to be responsible home owners maintaining their home and property at a respectable level, to help promote Habitat if requested (for example media interviews). As a partner with Habitat, the applicant, the family and/or friends must be willing to work a total of 500 hours of "sweat equity" towards the building of the applicant's home. Normally some of these hours are completed before construction can begin on the home. More details regarding "sweat equity" will be explained during the interview.
Upon completion of the sweat equity commitment Habitat for Humanity Thousand Islands will then sell the house to the applicant at 75% of appraised value. Habitat mortgage payments include principal and taxes. These payments do not normally exceed 25% of the family's gross monthly income Home owners are required to carry insurance on the home. Successful partners will be encouraged to save up to $5,000 which will be used for up front costs incurred prior to moving into the home: telephone, electrical hookup, heating oil and closing costs etc. Partners are required to submit an annual statement of income for each adult who resides in the home to Habitat for Humanity Thousand Islands.
Other
Applicants must have lived in Leeds & Grenville County or surrounding area for at least one year prior to the date of application. Information provided to Habitat for Humanity Thousand Islands will be held in the strictest confidence. All information and applications will be destroyed at the end of the application period. Habitat for Humanity Thousand Islands does not retain a waiting list. It may be that a family meets the criteria required but is not successful because someone else is in greater need. Those who are not initially accepted are encouraged to reapply.
