Another family ready to move into a Habitat for Humanity home

Another Habitat for Humanity Prince Edward-Hastings home is ready for its family.

A key ceremony was held Monday for the McFaul family who will soon be moving into the home at 633 Sidney Street.

Habitat CEO Hazzem Koudsi says it’s very special to help a family have the opportunity for home ownership.

“Being able to provide home ownership opportunities to hard-working families is what we’re all about. Helping them get to that level of strength, independence, self-reliance, it’s really important.”

The home was donated to Habitat by the City of Belleville, and Harmony Homes Quinte led the refurbishment project.

Steve McFaul says he and his teenage sons, Logen, 17, and Gage, 14, are looking forward to moving in.

“This is a much, you know, nicer area for us to just live and play and grow. It’s kind of a, more of a beginning than sort of the end of a journey.”

Steve McFaul and his son Logen enter their new home at 633 Sidney Street. (Photo: Alana Cameron/ Quinte News)

As a condition of their ownership, the family had to put in 500 hours of volunteer work.

McFaul says since this was a renovation and not a new build, there wasn’t as much opportunity to work on the house itself, however, the family volunteered some of their time at the Habitat For Humanity ReStore on Bell Boulevard.

At the ceremony, Habitat board chair and Belleville city councillor Kathryn Brown said this is why Habitat does what it does, as an affordable Habitat mortgage opens the door to home ownership.

Koudsi says the organization has made home ownership possible for more than 30 families so far.

Families have already been selected for two more homes at 639 Sidney Street and they will be working on the 500 volunteer hour commitment.

Koudsi says they received 189 applications for those two projects.

Plans remain in the works to convert the former police station at 93 Dundas Street East into 66 one-, two- and three-bedroom condos with the project slated for completion in about five years.

“Sixty-six units would be one of the biggest projects, self-contained, not phased-in, one of the largest projects Habitat Canada has done. And so we’re proud of that in our community of Prince Edward-Hastings.”

633 Sidney Street was Habitat for Humanity Prince Edward-Hastings’s first build project in almost two years.

A Key Ceremony was held for Habitat For Humanity’s refurbishment of 633 Sidney Street, Belleville, June 5, 2023. (Photo: Alana Cameron/Quinte News)