Small business is playing a major role in the success of an organization that is helping the less fortunate lead better lives.

“I think small business is really the key. It’s the small businesses that make it happen,” says Anneke Rees, executive director of the Habitat for Humanity Society of Greater Vancouver.

The society is the local arm of the international non-profit, non-government organization that seeks to eliminate poverty housing. It recently completed construction of four new townhomes in Burnaby.

Habitat builds simple, affordable houses and sells them to families in need. Businesses either donate their time and services or offer them at a discount, she says.

Bayne Stanley, Business Edge
Canadian Community College executive director Adam Tang, left, checks out the townhome with students Victor Li and Tim Wang.

One such company is Mott Electric, which has been in business in the Vancouver area for 75 years.

“I think it’s a good cause. We have the resources to help,” says general manager Graham Trafford.

Mott donated the cost of getting the electrical permits for the society’s latest project.

“We also provided one of the foremen for the layout of the electrical boxes in the project. We covered his wages for one week . . . the foreman also donated his time on the weekends and some of our guys volunteered on the weekend when wiring the houses.”

Trafford believes that it is good business for a company such as Mott, which has “been part of the community for 75 years and has always been active in the community.”

The homes sell for $100,000, says Rees.

A vast array of volunteers consisting of highly skilled tradesmen and unskilled help build the townhomes with donated tools, materials and funds.

There can be as many as 10 to 30 volunteers working at the construction site at any one time.

Each of the lucky homeowners has to contribute 500 hours of volunteer work to local Habitat projects, including the construction of their own townhome.

Homeowners are chosen every “couple of years and you might start off with a couple of hundred applicants and they get pared down to four,” says Rees.

Once the four are chosen, it takes one year for the application process to be finalized.

The non-profit houses are then sold to the new homeowner with an affordable, no-interest mortgage.

The new homeowners must have a steady income source and have the ability to make the monthly mortgage payments.

The house is secured through two mortgages.

The first mortgage is based on the cost price of the townhome. On the date of the sale, the fair market value of the property is determined and the difference between the two is the amount of the second mortgage. The second mortgage is forgivable after a set period of time. This effectively prevents a resale for profit.

Habitat for Humanity was founded in 1976 by a couple in Americus, Ga.

It has built more than 175,000 homes in 100 countries. The organization’s most famous volunteers are former U.S. president Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn. In 1985, a Canadian branch was founded. So far, more than 700 homes have been built here.

Former high-profile governor general Ed Schreyer and his wife Lily have been building homes across Canada and promoting Habitat’s work. By next year, the international organization projects about 200,000 homes will have been built and more than one million people housed.

With the completion of the latest four homes, the Burnaby Habitat project will now move on to Phase 3.

Phase 1 was completed in 2002. The project had its start six years ago when Habitat purchased one acre of land.

Eventually, the site will consist of a townhouse community of 27 two-storey units. Completion date is set for 2007.

Sponsors are wide-ranging, from small businesses to big unions to large corporations. Some sponsors are local, others are national.

Even grassroots community groups are getting involved. The Ismaili community in Vancouver raised upwards of $120,000 for Phase 2 of the latest Habitat project.

Canadian Community College also sends its carpentry students to help build Habitat homes – making it the first Canadian community college to become involved in the project, says Adam Tang, the college’s executive director.

The college will continue to be involved for the next three to five years, he adds.

“It’s all part of us giving back to the community, it’s good business and it’s not all about making money all the time,” he adds.

Student Tim Wang says his involvement with Habitat “gives me good practical experience, and it was fun helping out.”

Two years ago, the Vancouver arm of Habitat opened a retail outlet called ReStore.

The store sells donated new and used high-quality building and renovation materials at what the company says are “bargain prices.”

(George Froehlich can be reached at george@businessedge.ca)