Habitat for Humanity is now a Saskatchewan-wide program, while they might not have operations here in the southwest, they are a positive force across the province. 

  

Habitat for Humanity is an organization that builds affordable homes for people and families to help lift them out of working-class poverty. Last year the organization merged multiple Habitat for Humanity community branches into a single combined effort throughout the province.  

  

Denis Perrault, CEO for Habitat Humanity Saskatchewan, joined the company in 2021 and this year he said they're planning to continue the amazing work they do for families. 

  

"At the start, we recruit partner families and there would be an advertisement we have," explained Perrault. "We have education evenings and to become a partner family... You fill out an application. You're required to take some budgeting courses through Habitat. You also take courses on what it means to be a homeowner, and you commit to 500 volunteer hours that are usually served on the build site, but could also be served at one of our lease stores or at other community locations. And the reason why you'd want to do that is ultimately you're going to sign a mortgage with habitat for a home at 0 per cent one day. So very affordable and the entire concept is to elevate our partner families." 

  

By helping families get started with affordable homes, Habitat helps fight poverty not just for the family but going forward into the future with their children. They have found countless times that by helping get children into a stable home environment, they themselves become better equipped to lead lives free of poverty. 

  

"I was able to hand the keys over to a number of partner families and it means a lot," Perrault stated. "I think a lot of us take for granted a lot of the things we have and just seeing the emotion, the raw emotion and the gratitude when a partner family gets a chance to become homeowners. It means a lot and I'm very, very thankful for the opportunity to be a part of this organization and to be able to help them navigate this merger and navigate this company so that ultimately, they're able to serve even more families going forward." 

  

Currently, they're ten locations and are working towards stabilizing as an organization after recently merging. However, they hope to be able to expand into southwestern Saskatchewan along with other areas of the province.

  

"We would be looking to set up a local group and to work together to get to that end, but at present, we're definitely not there yet," lamented Perrault. "We're still a post-merge charity that's still navigating all the pieces to make our enterprise strong so that we can build safe, decent and affordable homes for many partner families across our province." 

  

When someday Habitat for Humanity does open up shop in southwestern Saskatchewan, families will be able to apply for a partnership to begin working towards homeownership with the group. When that may be is still unclear, but Perrault made it clear that they are looking at all possibilities.  

  

If you would like to learn more about Habitat for Humanity Saskatchewan, check out this link.