New home owners proud

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Families who thought they would never have the chance of owning their own homes have been working together to make sure they do.

Since 1996, the New Beginnings Housing Cooperative (NBHC) has been giving low income families the opportunity of being home owners and the organization has received the 1999 Co-operative Enterprise Award for its work.

"This program has been a catalyst for the development of several other housing programs in Prince Albert, Saskatoon and Regina," said Wayne Thrasher, manager of Saskatchewan Economic and Co-operative Development. "It has been very successful."

The citizens of Prince Albert are primarily of Aboriginal background and 75 per cent of the co-op members are Aboriginal as well.

"It's kind of a strange question as to how many of our members are Aboriginal since Prince Albert is an Aboriginal community," said NBHC member, Sandra Burns. "So it's just natural that our members are mostly Aboriginal."

The co-operative has allowed 19 families the opportunity to own their own homes out of the 150 families that initially applied.

"It began with a realtor in town who had some conversations with people on assistance and low income and that the way mortgage rates are going right now. Mortgage payments are affordable and renting isn't," said Burns. "The issue was having good credit to get a loan for a mortgage."

An advisory committee made up of the Prince Albert Credit Union, the City of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan Economic and Co-operative Development, Department of Social Services, Century 21, Community Service Centre, and the Prince Albert Health District was established to provide a selection process for applicants that wanted to be in the cooperative.

"The bank did credit checks and gave you the chance to clean up your credit so you could be eligible to be part of the co-op," said Burns. "It was not a traditional mortgage and now we have families who have purchased their own homes."

The Prince Albert Credit Union provided a pre-approved mortgage of $750,000 to the co-operative so that the families could buy modest houses in need of repair. At the end of the individual mortgage terms, title of the house passes from the co-op to the family.

The families helped one another in fixing up the homes to ensure that the appraised value of the house was increased by 33 per cent over the purchase and material costs. In doing so, the bank was able to loan the money to the cooperative without the required 25 pe rcent down payment.

"The success of the project has caused two more co-ops right here in Prince Albert - Hand In Hand Housing Co-op and Home Works," said Burns. "It has done a great deal for the community."

The project has become a community venture as local suppliers, trades, a lawyer, real estate broker, engineer and architect have reduced prices in supporting the co-op in the renovations of their homes.

"It's the best thing that has ever happened to us. We've been in our house for three-and-half-years now," said Burns. "It has totally changed our lives. When we came into the co-op, I worked part time and my husband was on unemployment insurance with partial assistance. And now both of us have full-time jobs. Having our own home as really helped us."