THE HABITAT - Habitat for Humanity Canada

Second Annual Great-West Life,
London Life and Canada Life National
Award for Leadership in Sustainable
and Affordable Home Building awarded
to help green building initiatives:
Jim Carragher recognized for instituting
and advancing green building practices
for Habitat for Humanity Prince
Edward Island
Going
Peter Mullins, Director,
Business Development,
Freedom 55 financial, awards
Jim Carragher and Susan
and Sarah MacCormac
with the award
Green
In recognition of his outstanding contributions to his local affiliate, Jim Carragher,
Board Chair for Habitat for Humanity Prince Edward Island Inc. (PEI), was presented
with the Second Annual Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life National Award
for Leadership in Sustainable and Affordable Home Building.
The award is a $25,000 grant bestowed upon a Habitat for Humanity volunteer in
Canada who then directs the funds to a Habitat sustainable building project. It was
created in 2009 in an effort to encourage and inspire more individuals to champion
the cause of affordable homeownership in their own communities. The award is also
designed to encourage the adoption of sustainable building practices to help address
“energy poverty” – an affordability issue that many households face in the wake of
increasing utility costs.
“Many low-income families living in affordable housing are facing financial
challenges due to increasing utility costs. It is our hope that this award will continue to
encourage individuals like Jim to actively support and engage in affordable sustainable
home building as a means to help Canadians break the ‘energy poverty’ cycle,” says
Jan Belanger, Assistant Vice-President, Community Affairs, Great-West Life, London Life
and Canada Life.
Carragher was recognized with this award on April 29th, 2010 at the HFHC Annual
General Meeting following his instrumental role in instituting and advancing the use
of green building practices at Habitat for Humanity PEI. Specifically, Carragher helped
raise approximately $88,000 for Habitat for Humanity PEI to use towards the building
of sustainable homes, while also playing a leading role at Habitat for Humanity PEI’s
2009 Eco-Build.
“Jim has been a wonderful advocate for Habitat for Humanity PEI. He has a minor
in Environmental Studies and never misses an opportunity to educate our volunteers,
partner families, and the general public about the importance of building more
sustainable housing in PEI. Jim often schedules his work commitments around his
passion for Habitat,” says Susan Zambonin, Executive Director, Habitat for Humanity PEI.
Following him receiving the award,
Carragher directed the $25,000 to Habitat
for Humanity PEI to help build an
energy-efficient home for Habitat partner
Susan MacCormac and her three children
– Katie, Justin and Sarah. The home was
dedicated on August 8th, 2010, and features
such green/sustainable features as Energy
Star rated windows and appliances,
insulation levels 15 per cent above building
code and an ultra-efficient heat recovery
ventilation system.
“Our home is a raised bungalow with
an insulated styrofoam block basement,
new energy efficient windows, water
conserving toilets, energy efficient washer/
dyer set, high efficiency heating system, and
more. We are very happy with the fact that
our home is so energy efficient as it is good
for our planet and we will save money
that will in turn help us financially,” says
Susan MacCormac.
In 2010, approximately 50 per cent of
HFHC’s builds have been enrolled under
recognized green building programs, and
HFHC expects this proportion to only rise.
Going forward, the contributions made
by organizations like Great-West Life,
London Life and Canada Life, which are
committed to promoting green building
initiatives, will certainly play a large part
in helping make this a reality.
Great-West Life, London Life
and Canada Life’s longstanding
partnership with HFHC
Great-West Life, London Life and Canada
Life, along with their staff and distribution
associates, have a long history of supporting
HFHC, sponsoring multiple builds and
contributing hundreds of hours to the
cause. Great-West Life and its subsidiaries
have made a five-year commitment of
$250,000 to support this award.
Green building:
Saving Homeowner’s Money,
Saving Everyone’s Environment
Habitat for Humanity affiliates committed to using valuable and
limited resources wisely in building affordable housing.
W
hen it comes to affording a house, Habitat for
Humanity Canada (HFHC) is aware of the financial
challenges. To help, Habitat offers pre-qualified
families no down payment, interest-free mortgages
that are geared to income.
With today’s rising costs of energy, water,
building materials and land – innovation is an important way
to ensure homeownership is sustainable. As a result, HFHC
created the National Green Building Program to provide
leadership, support and funding to help affiliates build more
energy-efficient homes and to save partner families thousands
of dollars every year.
By reducing the utility costs associated with homeownership,
HFHC is hoping to prevent low-income families from facing
what is known as “energy poverty.”
With the support of organizations such as RBC Foundation –
a founding member of HFHC’s environmental program –
Habitat affiliates have already completed a number of green,
affordable housing projects.
RBC has been involved with HFHC since 1992, providing
more than $2.5 million for home building needs in Canada,
with RBC employees involved in Habitat for Humanity
projects in over 40 communities nationwide.
“We believe our success is tightly interwoven with the
economic and social well-being of the communities in which
we do business,” says Shari Austin, Vice-President and Head
of Corporate Citizenship, RBC Foundation.
There are more than 13 million homes in Canada with
17 per cent of the energy consumed across the country being
used to run them. But certified energy-efficient homes, such
as ENERGY STAR homes, are 25 to 30 per cent more energy
efficient than houses built to today’s building-code standards.
In addition, energy efficient homes can reduce greenhouse
gas emissions by up to three tonnes a year and reduce
homeowner costs by up to 30 per cent.
Last year alone, RBC helped 17 Habitat for Humanity affiliates
adopt more environmentally sustainable building practices,
reducing CO 2 emissions by approximately 380 tonnes per year.
As well, seven affiliates undertook their first home(s) that
were built to recognized sustainable building standards. RBC’s
continued support will continue this legacy.
Green Building at the Street Level:
Habitat for Humanity Winnipeg’s Sir
Sam Steele Housing Development
Currently on the second phase of the Sir Sam Steele
housing development, Habitat for Humanity Winnipeg’s
Integrated Project Team has built about a third of the
development’s 32 energy-efficient homes that will be
completed by the end of 2011.
All homes will be constructed to the Manitoba Hydro
standard, but will also meet Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED ® ) Gold standards, with
the potential to achieve the highest LEED ® standard
possible, Platinum.
“The energy and water efficiency of all these homes
not only makes them environmentally friendly, but
also more affordable by reducing the daily living costs
for our hardworking families,” says Sandy Hopkins,
CEO of Habitat for Humanity Winnipeg.
HFHC and its affiliates have shown that responsible and
sustainable building, in compliance with the most stringent
green-building standards in Canada, can be achieved by
affordable home builders. Green building is not just for
the high-end, custom homes anymore.
“As Director of Building Services for Habitat for
Humanity Canada, green building is a very important
focus for me, as I am convinced that not only will more
families find more affordable housing solutions, Habitat
for Humanity affiliates will gain stronger support over
the long term, greater capacity to deliver on programs
and also gain greater respect in their community,”
says Terry Petkau.
14 The Habitat spirit Fall/Winter 2010