The Foothills chapter of Habitat for Humanity is building on its success and on a lot near the hospital.

Marilyn Boake says it's an exciting time for her group having secured the property at 831 - 6th Street Southwest.

"Habitat for Humanity, the Foothills chapter first built in High River a duplex project in 2015 and then we built a second duplex project in Okotoks in 2018 and now we're finally excited to be back in High River, my hometown, to be able to build a second duplex project and we'll be able to put two families into home ownership through this," she says.

She says each three-bedroom home in the duplex will have its own fenced-in backyard and its own parking pad.

"The first step for the chapter is always to purchase the land, which we are excited that we've finally been able to purchase land, and now the chapter goes back into raising the rest of the funding. We're getting close, we're probably still $75,000 to $100,000 short which does seem like a lot of money but it's achievable. 

And then we're also going to begin to take applications from families in September and if the funds and the family both come together very quickly, we could be able to start this build as early as the spring of 2024 and if we miss that we're going to be looking at the spring of 2025," Boake explains.

When families are approved, their mortgage payments are set at 30 per cent maximum of the total family income.

The mortgage is interest free and there's no down payment required.

""What we find is if you're in a certain income range you just have no money left over at the end of the day to put together a down payment and so this Habitat program, I'm a huge fan, I have seen personally how it has changed the lives of the four families that I have been able to have the pleasure of moving into Habitat homes in the past," says Boake.

She says keeping mortgage rates at 30 per cent of the total family income has allowed other Habitat for Humanity homeowners to go back to school or learn a different trade and change jobs.

Some community organizations have already reached out to the Foothills chapter to have members come and speak about the program and Boake says they're always willing to spread the word and get even more people on board.