SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
For Ashli Lynn Tkachuk and her three daughters, getting the keys to their first home was a "dream come true."

A duplex built by Habitat for Humanity NWT has a new occupant as Ashli Lynn Tkachuk and her three daughters moved into the home last year. The duplex, located at 126 Moyle Drive in Niven, is the first project by Habitat for Humanity NWT and was completed in December 2013. - Simon Whitehouse/NNSL photo

Tkachuk, 33, is an employee with the GNWT who was born and raised in Yellowknife. She is a single mother to Alyssa, 16, and nine-year-old twins Kailynn and Reanna. Tkachuk found out last July she was the chosen candidate to move into one of the first Habitat for Humanity NWT units at 126 B Moyle Drive in Niven.

"I was just so ecstatic and I was really shocked," she said. "You don't really know other people who apply and what their situation might be. You only know your own situation and for me I couldn't believe it because it was always a dream come true to own my own home. When I got handed those keys it was the greatest feeling in the world."

Tkachuk said she has long been frustrated with having to pay monthly rent. She decided to take the chance and apply to the program.

"When you rent, it is somewhere that you live, but it never really feels like a home," she said. "Living in the North with the high cost of living, paying high rent and being a single mother with three daughters, you can get by month to month. But saving extra money for an extra down payment is out of reach. Even double income families struggle with that."

Tkachuk's home is in the first housing duplex built by Habitat for Humanity NWT, which was established in December 2011. A family moved into 126 A in December 2013 and an initial family moved into Tkachuk's suite also at that time, but due to personal reasons, moved out at the end of 2014, according to Dave Hurley, president of Habitat for Humanity NWT.

Hurley said getting chosen to live in a Habitat home "doesn't happen overnight." He explained that after the initial family moved out, the house was returned to the organization and a bidding process began again. A committee of professionals from the city conducted an in-depth review of about 10 to 15 families who applied. Candidates were weened down based on their financial status and personal need for a dwelling before a candidate was recommended to the Habitat for Humanity board, Hurley said. He said it is important to remember that the house is not a giveaway.

"It is not free," he said. "The families pay a much reduced monthly payment to make it affordable for them, but they have to have the financial means to provide a monthly rent, to pay their taxes and meet the criteria (set by) Habitat to provide 500 hours of volunteer sweat equity." Monthly payments go to Habitat for Humanity, which owns the home, and that money goes toward the family's mortgage. After 20 to 25 years, Hurley said the family can then own the home.

Hurley said it is important to ensure his organization retains ownership largely to protect public investments in the housing projects.

"We have safeguards in place because we build these houses with donations from the community and volunteer labour," he said. "If we have a family in there with the intent of flipping a house or reselling it, we won't be building more houses with community support."

Tkachuk said she is about halfway done her obligation of 500 sweat equity hours. Since September she and her daughters have been volunteering at various organizations including the Yellowknife Elks Lodge. She expects to be involved in the construction of a building the organization is creating at the landfill which will take in leftover building supplies to resell and raise money for its next project.

Future projects

Hurley said the building at the landfill should be up and running next month and he hopes to bring in lumber and appliances that could help with the next Habitat house, expected to be completed in 2017.

"The economy is not the most exciting thing right now so we have to be careful how we do it," he said.