Habitat for Humanity Brandon works to assist in the elimination of poverty housing in the city by building affordable houses with and for families in need, such as the soon-to-open Massey Building.

Located at 638 Pacific Avenue, the Massey Building contains more than 50 households, 14 of them belonging to Habitat for Humanity Brandon. These condos are being sold to families in need for a very affordable cost. Applicants were to contribute 500 hours of labour, either to the building project or to other local charities, and are set up with affordable mortgage plans.
However, several applicants who were accepted previously are worried that their prior acceptance is being thrown out.

“The person I work with is set to receive a condo in the Massey Building from Habitat for Humanity, and has been previously approved,” said a concerned anonymous caller.
“This person has already completed their 500 hours of service, but just received a notice that they have to reapply. They are worried that the labour hours already served won’t count, and I know several other people have raised the same fear.”
Fortunately, that is not the case.

“They are not really being made to reapply,” said Harold Reid, chairperson for Habitat for Humanity Brandon.
“The Massey Building has taken longer than we initially hoped, so we are just trying to get applications up-to-date. Under no circumstances will the applicants have to put in the labour again.”

Habitat for Humanity applicants have to qualify based on income; it can’t be too high to qualify, but it also can’t be too low to be able to make the low payments. Since many of the applications were received nearly three years ago, Habitat for Humanity needs to update their information to ensure applicants still qualify.

“If the applicant has received a serious raise or drop in income, it may disqualify them,” said Reid.
“But it would have to be a quite large change; most people will not likely have to worry about it.”

As the Massey Building gets closer and closer to its completion date, Reid says it is an important time to get their information updated and ready so applicants can hopefully start moving in this summer.

“The cupboards are in, the doors are on, and the flooring is just about to go down,” said Reid.
“Things are progressing, but we probably have about two months still until it is ready.”