Founded in 1986, Habitat for Humanity Canada (Habitat Canada) helps low-income families access affordable housing in Canada and developing countries. It is a member of Habitat for Humanity International and shares the International vision statement: a world where everyone has a decent place to live. With 1.7 million Canadian families unable to afford decent housing, Habitat Canada promotes affordable homeownership to break the poverty cycle. It oversees 54 Habitat affiliates across Canada. Its headquarters are in Toronto.  

Local Habitat affiliates build Habitat homes. Habitat Canada provides financial and training support to its affiliates. It does not have a direct role in the homeownership application process and does not build homes. The charity distributed $7.0 million in cash support to local affiliates and $8.9 million in donated materials to build homes in F2019. Ci reported all cash transfers to affiliates as program costs in its financial analysis. The charity typically reports these costs as grants in its T3010 CRA filing.

Habitat for Humanity Canada reports that 267 new families moved into homes in F2019 (up 12% from 238 in F2018). This included 24 indigenous families. 75% of new families came from rental homes, 18% lived in subsidized housing, and 7% from other arrangements. Habitat Canada’s goal for 2020 is to help 375 Canadian families per year. Habitat Canada spent an average of $59,217¹ per new family in F2019; however, including the local Habitat for Humanity affiliate costs, the average cost of a new Habitat house is over $300,000. An additional 2,400 families continued living in Habitat homes that they moved into in prior years. Eligible homeowners are low-income families in need of better housing who can commit 500 hours to help build a Habitat home or volunteer at a ReStore. Homes are sold to families at market value and made affordable through interest-free mortgage payments capped at 30% of total annual household income. 

Besides support to affiliates, the remaining $2.7 million in Canadian program spending includes $1.4 million in marketing and communication costs, $1.0 million in ReStore and product development costs, and $237k on government relations and Indigenous housing.

Habitat for Humanity Canada contributes to international homebuilding projects in developing countries. In F2019, it spent $4.4 million on international programs and Habitat for Humanity Canada Global Village (Habitat Global Village) costs. Habitat Global Village is a volunteer program for Canadians who want to build homes in developing countries. The charity reports that it helped 380 people in Malawi, Vietnam, and the Dominican Republic in F2019 through home construction/renovations, latrine installations for improved water access, and/or construction, maintenance and property rights training. Country-specific results for F2019 include: 28 homes built in Dominican Republic, and 9 homes built in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

¹ This calculation is based on affiliate support costs, including the cost of donated build materials.

Habitat for Humanity Canada is a large charity that received $11.8m in Canadian donations in F2019. This includes $3.3m in Global Village and gift-in-kind airfare. The charity’s audited financial statements do not report cash donations separate from airfare. Habitat Canada received an additional $2.1m in materials for homebuilding projects and $6.8m in ReStore materials donations.

Administrative costs are 5% of revenues and fundraising costs are 21% of donations. For every dollar donated, 74 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. When non-cash donations for homebuilding projects are included in donations, Habitat Canada’s fundraising ratio drops to 18% (15% in F2018, 13% in F2017).

Habitat for Humanity Canada has $5.9m in funding reserves. This can cover annual program costs at the F2019 level for almost five months.

Habitat Canada sold its National ReStore operations to an affiliate Habitat in F2019, receiving $66k in proceeds from the sale (included in business activities). The affiliate took control of ReStore operations in January 2020.

In February 2020, Habitat Canada partnered with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to help finance the construction and repair of housing units built by Habitat Canada’s affiliates. Through the agreement, funding of up to $32.4m (in forgivable loans) will be available to build 405 new homes and repair 105 existing homes. This funding is for housing projects that start(ed) in 2019 to 2021.

Habitat Canada has cancelled all Global Village trips scheduled between March 1 and December 31, 2020 due to COVID-19. All funds received for these trips have been deferred, and trip cancellations are expected to decrease F2020 revenues by $512k.

This report is an update that has been sent to Habitat for Humanity for review. Comments and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on May 29, 2020 by Katie Khodawandi.