Habitat for Humanity Windsor-Essex is celebrating the completion of its 83rd home in the area.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Wednesday at 1067 Henry Ford Centre Drive in Windsor, the third of three homes built on Ford Centre Drive in 2023.
It's also the eighth home that Habitat for Humanity has built in Windsor’s Ford City neighbourhood since 2019, housing 25 children and their parents.
Fiona Coughlin, Chief Executive Officer of Habitat for Humanity Windsor-Essex, says the homes they've built in Ford City are on lots that previously had rundown, boarded up homes on them.
"So these lots have been really problem lots, so it's a little more work to build this way," she says. "But we know it's helping the neighbours and helping the community at the same time."
Coughlin says the people who live in Habitat for Humanity homes are owners.
"They pay property taxes just like everybody else. So they are contributing to the work in the community, their taxes pay for the roads, buses and schools, and all of that thing," she says. "When we bring these neighbours into the community we are really benefiting this neighbourhood in a lot of different ways."
Fiona Coughlin, Chief Executive Officer of Habitat for Humanity Windsor-Essex, speaks during an event to open a Habitat for Humanity home in Windsor. Dec. 13, 2023. (Photo: Rusty Thomson)
Coughlin says it's doesn't get old seeing someone get a new home.
"To know that there's a family that is struggling, and we know that this family has gone through a lot, and we know they're going to be in a safe affordable house before Christmas, you can't beat that. There's nothing better than that," she adds.
The new home is being turned over to a solo parent and their children.