May 14 is a very significant day for a Magnetawan husband and wife.
That's when the couple picks up the keys to the first-ever Habitat for Humanity home built in Magnetawan.
Magnetawan's Deputy Mayor John Hetherington was a major player in seeing the Habitat home become a reality, and he says the local process also established two firsts for the organization.
Like many communities in the Almaguin Highlands, there is a housing shortage.
In January 2013, Hetherington asked his council colleagues to create a committee to build affordable homes.
The quick answer was no because of too much red tape.
“What was suggested was an independent committee be formed, and that's what we did,” Hetherington said.
Hetherington became the chair of this committee, and when it contacted Habitat for Humanity to explain what it wanted to do, it ran into an immediate problem.
Magnetawan businessman Mark Langford, who also sits on the committee and would become the general contractor of the local build, says Habitat had already allocated its budget for the year.
“Their budget was gone”, Langford said.
“But we wanted to proceed anyway and said we would raise every dollar that would go into the home to make it happen”.
Normally Habitat for Humanity puts money into its housing projects plus its expertise.
Hetherington says the organization “thought we were crazy when we suggested we would raise everything.”
Hetherington says the local group had a plan, but it would need Habitat's expertise and knowledge to make the home a reality.
Habitat agreed. and Langford said that was a first “because Habitat did not have to put a cent into this build.”
The second first was the result of Langford's building history.
Langford has built about a half dozen homes in Magnetawan, and each of those homes is a prefab made by Champoux Homes of Quebec near New Liskeard at the Ontario-Quebec border.
“It's an unbelievable product,” Langford said.
“Their homes are built for the north. They are very well insulated and meet the criteria for our area.”
The major advantage of using a modular-made home is that it's cheaper than traditional building methods, and Hetherington says until Habitat ran into the Magnetawan group, it did not build prefabs.
He says the local group helped to connect Habitat with Champoux Homes.
“Habitat picked up on that right away because they could see the benefits, mostly in the cost of building a house, and now they work together,” Hetherington said.
The completed home is located at 173 South Street.
It's a raised bungalow that is slightly more than 1,000 square feet in size.
The home has two bedrooms, a kitchen with a large island in the middle, a living room, and a four-piece bathroom which also houses a laundry area.
There is a full basement which allows for expansion which could include more bedrooms and another bathroom.
Langford says the basement ceiling is nine feet high.
He says the walls would need to be drywalled before any expansion is carried out, and that's an expense the new owners would incur.
The home has electric heat, a yard, a driveway that will likely be gravelled, a well, and a septic system.
Hetherington says the young couple, who don't have any children yet, was selected after a rigorous screening process by Habitat which includes a police check.
He says the couple's name can't be made public until they pick up the keys later this month.
There will be a public dedication ceremony in mid-August to recognize the achievement.
Hetherington says it's the Habitat for Humanity's process that makes its homes affordable.
“There is no down payment and no interest,” he said.
“A couple pays 25 per cent of their combined T4 slips. The couple also needs to provide 500 hours of labour toward the home or volunteer that many hours in the community.”
And like any homeowner, they are responsible for property taxes, insurance, and utility bills.
Hetherington says if circumstances change for the couple in the future and they need to sell, they get back whatever amount they contributed to the home.
Hetherington says the couple recently viewed the home “and they couldn't believe it.”
“It was a very emotional moment for them,” he said.
He says when all factors are considered, the home has a value of $550,000.
This includes the cost of the land which the municipality donated.
It also includes free labour from the 50 to 60 volunteers who did various work on the property.
The largest component is the prefab which is in two parts.
Hetherington says the money for this was from donations and a significant amount came from the Americans with cottages on Ahmic Lake.
“Eighty per cent of our lake is American owned,” he said.
“If it wasn't for them, this project would never have happened.”
Another major contributor was Champoux Homes which donated the kitchen cabinets estimated at $20,000.
The kitchen comes equipped with a fridge and stove which were donated, as were the washer and dryer.
Also donated was the well and septic system.
As the contractor, Langford oversaw the volunteers working on the project.
Langford donated all his time plus he donated materials.
Langford says the value of his time and materials was in the tens of thousands of dollars.
Hetherington said it's people like Langford and others that make Magnetawan the kind of town it is.
Hetherington adds it was not difficult in the least to get people to volunteer their time with the build.
Hetherington said once the land was cleared and the basement was built, his heart had palpitations and he became teary-eyed on the day when he saw the transport truck coming down South Street with the two parts of the prefab.
“It had finally happened”, he said.
When the two halves were melded, work began on the siding and roof and whatever finishing work the interior needed.
Langford and Hetherington both say they feel good about what the community has accomplished with Hetherington adding “It won't be the last Habitat home built in Magnetawan”.
Rocco Frangione is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter with The North Bay Nugget. LJI is funded by the Government of Canada.
