A St. Albert family will remain in their home after Habitat for Humanity Edmonton and its dozens of partner families reached an agreement in a months-long dispute.
Abdurehman Zakaria and his family were preparing to leave their home in Aurora Place behind last month after they weren’t able to sign on to Habitat’s new mortgage agreement, which required families to pay half the mortgage through a loan with interest.
Last November, 57 Edmonton-area families facing potential eviction joined a class-action lawsuit protesting the new model after Habitat announced it would be overhauling its mortgage program because it is facing $27 million in debt.
Instead of settling the lawsuit in court, both sides agreed to meet with the help of a mediator to reach an agreement through discussions on July 20 and 21.
The mediation efforts were a huge success, Zakaria said.
“Within a month, they promised us that we can sign the old mortgage agreement, which is interest-free,” he said.
“It was a big surprise to us because we never imagined we were going to get here (with Habitat). This is like a dream come true.”
Chris Bruce, chair of the board of directors for Habitat for Humanity Edmonton, said families still have the option to go with the new mortgage model and they also have the ability to leave the program if they want.
“We decided that it was the right thing to do,” Bruce said.
During mediation, Bruce said Habitat opened up talks with a “sincere apology” to the families in the room.
“And quite honestly, it just went really well from there and we started to rebuild that trust a little bit. We're very happy about the direction we're headed in with our family partners.”
The organization realized that beyond its financial issues, they had failed to communicate the new mortgage model to families fairly, Bruce said.
Before mediation, Habitat Edmonton sat down with its advisers to determine what those changes would mean for the organization should they make the pivot. The financial hardships Habitat is facing are still there, but they can be managed, he said.
“The economic situation in Alberta complicates everything, but we're determined that we're going to continue to provide housing, and we're going to find new ways to do that. We satisfied our organization that this is going to take us a little longer to achieve our financial objectives, but we’re okay with that and we’ll get there.”
Listening to the concerns of the families and coming to a fair and quick resolution would help the non-profit and its partner families move forward together in a positive way, he said.
“As they left, I would say about just about every single family member made eye contact with me, smiled and said, ‘Thank you,’” Bruce said. “Honestly, that meant more to me than anything a lawyer could ever deliver.”
Now, instead of moving out, the Zakaria family is unpacking their belongings with the confidence they will be able to stay in their forever home.
“(My four children) were so happy – the whole week they were smiling, you know?” Zakaria said.
“Since Habitat for Humanity came to the mediation with good faith and solved all the disputes, I want to forget about the past and I look forward to working with them.”
Habitat acknowledges it will take some work to rebuild that trust, Bruce said.
To start that process, Habitat has also committed to setting up a community advisory council made up of several community groups to ensure it is connecting and serving its partner families.
“The concept has been really well received by our family partners, by our donors, by our volunteers as an opportunity for us to really touch base more often with the people that we're serving,” he said.
John Caputo, Postmedia’s former regional vice-president of Western Canada, has been hired to serve as the organization’s new interim CEO as well. This comes after the former CEO Karen Stone stepped down from her role with the charity in late June amid the legal battle.
“He has a tremendous background in business and media relations and working with not-for-profit organizations. We're very fortunate to have someone of this calibre joining us.”
Habitat for Humanity builds homes with families that could otherwise not qualify for a mortgage. Its housing program allows low-income families to put in 500 hours of "sweat equity" with Habitat as a down payment and complete a one-year tenancy agreement before having the option to sign a mortgage.
