Habitat for Humanity is expanding income eligibility to serve 18 more families in 2026.
The Windsor-Essex Habitat branch is expanding the income eligibility criteria, effective immediately, to families with a total household income of up to $135,000 in order for local families to become homeowners.
Habitat for Humanity is encouraging families who fall in this new threshold to apply for the affordable homeownership program. The decision to raise the income threshold is due to the growing housing affordability crisis within Windsor-Essex.
18 new homes will be built next year, with the locations yet to be announced. However, a ground breaking ceremony is expected this fall.
Habitat's criteria no longer includes a strict maximum income limit. Eligibility is now based on housing needs, which includes factors such as paying for more than 30 per cent of your household income on rent, living in overcrowded conditions, and living in a house that is unsafe, unhealthy, or in disrepair.
Fiona Coughlin, Executive Director and CEO of Habitat for Humanity Windsor-Essex, says there's a lot of people slipping through the cracks who are in that middle income level.
"We know that the average home in Windsor-Essex is almost $570,000, and when you do the math on that, that means that a family income has to be about $145,000 to be able to buy an average home in our community."
She says so many families locally want to own a home, but can't afford it.
"We also know that there's hard working families, two, three income families that can't catch a break. They're paying more than 30 per cent of their income on rent, sometimes up to 90 per cent of their income on rent, and they'll never be able to save a down payment, or scratch the surface on possibly owning a home."
Coughlin says everyone who applies has to prove they're in some sort of core housing need.
"That can mean that they're in a living situation where there's not enough bedrooms for the number of children that they have, it could be in situations where the housing substandard, or not in good repair, and it's also people in situations where they're paying more than 30 per cent of their income on rent."
Previously, Habitat for Humanity only accepted families in the program who made under $71,000 yearly.
Habitat for Humanity Windsor-Essex will be holding an information session at the Libro Credit Union Branch in Amherstburg on Sandwich Street on August 27 at 6:30 p.m. to provide more information about the program.
Registration is required and can be done on the Habitat for Humanity website.
-with files from AM800's The Shift with Patty Handysides