2006 Annual Report

A Message from our Leadership
Amazing things happen to people when they have a home. They become healthier, happier and better equipped to face life’s
challenges and seize its opportunities.
Habitat for Humanity – by helping people achieve the dream of homeownership – does more than provide them with a fixed
address, we give them a voice, a sense of stability, and a critical ‘hand up’ in their effort to break the vicious and disabling cycle
of poverty that may have been holding them back from realizing their full potential.
Addressing the issue of affordable housing and giving people a place to call home is not just an act of charity or generosity. It’s a
strategic investment in our society. For what we don’t spend on housing today, we will spend several times over in the future on
education, health care, correctional institutions, and in rebuilding the very fabric of our communities that are torn asunder when
people are without a safe and decent place to live.
Unfortunately, over 1.5 million Canadians and well over 1 billion families around the world are living today in substandard housing
and having to make unthinkable and unjust choices between food, electricity, education, childcare and medical care on the one
hand, and shelter on the other.
That’s why Habitat for Humanity Canada and our over 35,000 volunteers in over 70 communities across the country are working
tirelessly to build more homes for families in need. It’s also why we are going beyond our role as homebuilders and community
builders to build something just as imperative: a national movement for affordable housing. Through our “Leaders Building A
Nation” initiative, we are asking people from all walks of life to join us in building homes and hope for those who – for reasons
beyond their control – have fallen on difficult times.
In this report, you will learn how an ever-growing number of volunteers, donors and partners have helped us achieve
unprecedented successes this past year as we continue to expand our homebuilding efforts at home and abroad. You will read
how we are working to build better, faster, greener and safer. You will see how we are seeking out new ways of doing things,
and how we are holding ourselves accountable as stewards of the resources entrusted to us. Most importantly, you will see that
our work has just begun, and that we are putting out a call to action to the leaders who will help us in this important mission.
We encourage you to learn more about Habitat for Humanity. Come join us in our work and open the door to homeownership for
millions of people in Canada and around the world.
Karen Alexander David Hughes
Chair, National Board of Directors President & CEO
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