Habitat for Humanity Orillia/Lake Country

Mission & Vision

A community-based, non-profit, faith-based organization working for a world where everyone has a safe and decent place to live.
Our mission is to mobilize volunteers and community partners in building affordable housing and promoting homeownership as a means to breaking the cycle of poverty.

Founded in 2005 as a Chapter of HFH Huronia and in 2009 became the Orillia affiliate of Habitat for Humanity Canada. The local organization is part of a worldwide network of 72 affiliate organizations involving 35,000 volunteers, spanning 100 countries; which has built over 225,000 homes world-wide, and is now building a new home every 24 minutes somewhere in the world.

Guiding Principles

Habitat for Humanity believes that access to safe, decent and affordable housing is a basic human right that should be available to all. Without adequate shelter, a normal human existence in society is impossible. Our mission is to help break the cycle of poverty that entraps Canadian families living below the poverty line and in conditions of need. We achieve this by working with the families themselves, volunteers and Habitat's community partners to build affordable housing.

Habitat is non-discriminatory, involving people from a broad spectrum of social, ethnic, religious and economic backgrounds. Habitat reduces the cost of new homes by using modest designs, donated materials, volunteer labour, minimal marketing expenses and by reinvesting all mortgage payments received from homeowners back into the program, in order to help more families in the future. Habitat for Humanity, Orillia/Lake Country is fully committed to exclusively building energy-efficient homes in the future, not only because it reduces energy costs and is healthier for our Partner Families, but because it is environmentally responsible, reducing energy consumption in the future.

The program is based on the principle of giving families a hand up not a hand out. Habitat for Humanity partners with families who are willing to invest 500 hours of volunteer time in building either their own home or the home of another family and who have the capacity to purchase their home by repaying an interest free and profit free mortgage. The partnership also involves corporate and individual donors, faith groups and volunteers. Donors, families and volunteers are co-workers on an equal footing, contributing from their own experience and abilities to the good of all.

Habitat for Humanity reduces barriers to homeownership by selling Habitat homes with a $500.00 down-payment, no interest mortgages and setting affordable mortgage payments. Homeowner training and support services are also provided. To qualify for this program, homebuyers must be able to demonstrate their need, be able to carry a mortgage, and contribute a minimum of 500 volunteer hours into building their own home, volunteering in the community, or providing other assistance to Habitat for Humanity.