Edmonton-area NIMBY ###### opposes Habitat for Humanity

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by pylon

This is obviously a fake story. Everyone knows there are no upper middle class people in Edmonton.

Again, its St. Albert.

[wpgflamesfan]

I actually live in the same neighbourhood as this clown, but have no idea who he is. Anyways as bad as this letter is, i'm willing to bet a lot of people here have similar views as this guy but don't go around writing letters to the local paper about it. Having moved here from Winnipeg there are still certain things that I just don't understand about this place and its people.

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by fotze

An oilfield maintenance company, could he be lower on the totem pole. Like being the janitor for slobs who can't be bothered. Hiss assets are probably...a truck. If you are going to be a snob at least have a reason to be, Janitor doesn't cut it.

Not to mention name of the company is kinda ironic now. 'All Heart'.

[Matata]

Originally Posted by Byrns

Yet its ok for people in Calgary to oppose a Methadone clinic in a strip mall for the same reasons...

Are you throwing your hat in with the "I can't tell the difference between poor people and junkies" crowd?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Swarly

Yes, because clearly all poor down on their luck people who get a home built are low life drug dealing gangsters who try to run down kids with their cars.

I knew it! I knew it was the poor people, even when it was the drug dealers and gangsters, I knew it was the poor people!!

Get 'em!!

[old-fart]

So this ######nozzle just told the world that the only way his kid could get friends was to buy / rent them. Nice.

Kid must be just as big a loser as his parents are.

[mykalberta]

Anyone have a map where this house would go?

Its one thing to build these in run down neighborhoods in an effort to rebuild the neighborhood, but its another entirely to put one up in an area with high home value.

It would be like putting one up in Forest Lawn compared to Hillhurst/Sunnyside/Tuscany.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

Anyone have a map where this house would go?

Its one thing to build these in run down neighborhoods in an effort to rebuild the neighborhood, but its another entirely to put one up in an area with high home value.

It would be like putting one up in Forest Lawn compared to Hillhurst/Sunnyside/Tuscany.

God I just want to punch you in the face right now.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

It would be like putting one up in Forest Lawn compared to Hillhurst/Sunnyside/Tuscany.

Why is Tuscany on this list?

[StoneCole]

I did a bit of work for a habitat project in Langley, AB...some of the residents had similar views as the folks in St. Albert, so I don't find this odd.

To be honest I wouldn't be totally surprised if there's some substance to their views...not saying it's as dire as they make it sound, with the drugs and gangs and everything, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if it were a bit more likely that you get a deadbeat in a habitat home vs. a regular market-value place (not to say you don't get druggies and gangbangers in those places).

I find it a bit odd though to see these habitat places going up in St. Albert, Langley, etc. ...kind of makes more sense to me to put them in the City with some decent access to transit and other ammenities...

[mykalberta]

Originally Posted by Shazam

God I just want to punch you in the face right now.

Why, because I asked for a map of the proposed area, or because I am the only one that realizes that putting up one of these homes in a high home value area might affect home values. The guy who wrote the letter has issues, but the root of his point is a sound one.

Everyone can ignorantly stand on their soap box and yell, scream, whine, and bitch all they want with some distorted sense of higher moral bs value, but the facts are very simple - building this type of home doesnt increase property values of mid to higher range homes, if anything it will decrease them. The people who inhabit these might very well be good people, I couldnt care less, its the home value issue that I am questioning.

Habitat for Humanity home ownership program is there to help families in financially vulnerable situations finds a home to get out of the home poverty cycle. Where I grew up at least 6 of these homes have been built, and they have been all built away from middle class suburbia. I am sure the logic is sound in that land prices are lower in crappy neighborhoods hence its cheaper to build there.

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

Anyone have a map where this house would go?

Its one thing to build these in run down neighborhoods in an effort to rebuild the neighborhood, but its another entirely to put one up in an area with high home value.

It would be like putting one up in Forest Lawn compared to Hillhurst/Sunnyside/Tuscany.

What about New Brighton, Evanston, Capitol Hill and Mackenzie Towne?

Here's a two-unit Habitat for Humanity project in New Brighton:



http://www.habitatcalgary.ca/

They are also looking to put one in Airdrie.

[CGYTransplant]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

Why, because I asked for a map of the proposed area, or because I am the only one that realizes that putting up one of these homes in a high home value area might affect home values. The guy who wrote the letter has issues, but the root of his point is a sound one.

Everyone can ignorantly stand on their soap box and yell, scream, whine, and bitch all they want with some distorted sense of higher moral bs value, but the facts are very simple - building this type of home doesnt increase property values of mid to higher range homes, if anything it will decrease them. The people who inhabit these might very well be good people, I couldnt care less, its the home value issue that I am questioning.

Habitat for Humanity home ownership program is there to help families in financially vulnerable situations finds a home to get out of the home poverty cycle. Where I grew up at least 6 of these homes have been built, and they have been all built away from middle class suburbia. I am sure the logic is sound in that land prices are lower in crappy neighborhoods hence its cheaper to build there.

St. Albert doesn't really have any low-price neighborhoods...not in the same way a larger city would, with a large difference between high-priced neighborhoods (like West Hillhurst, or Aspen, or Mt. Royal in Calgary) and low priced neighborhoods (eg) Forest Lawn)

There definitely is going to be an effect on his property values...not necessarily because it's a Habitat project, but because it's multi-family, in a largely single-family community. St. Albert has VERY little multi-family housing....it would be analagous to putting a big condo complex in Mt. Royal.

However, part of the reason Habitat specifically looks for land in places like St. Albert is to avoid the ghettoization that has become prominent in several large American cities, with their low-income housing. The point is to give people a hand up, instead of isolating them and stigmatizing them.

As someone who grew up in St.Albert, I have news for this guy (the letter writer)- the Habitat for Humanity people aren't going to bring drugs and gangs to your doorstep. The drugs are already there, and so are the gangs (not in a Crips-Bloods kind of way, but there are groups of people who DO NOT get along..I'll leave it at that). Lots of the people I went to high school with did drugs almost every weekend, simply because they had the disposable income to do so. 7 girls in my class had babies within 1 year of graduating (one girl had twins in 10th grade), and a couple of the guys in my class are in jail now for various things. My point is that if he moved to St. Albert to escape all the horrible things that "poor people" bring into cities, he failed...because those problems are universal, not income-based.

Oh, and he's an @ss. If it bothers him so much, he can move. There are lots of houses in St. Albert.

[frinkprof]

Here is the criteria for home ownership set out by Habitat for Humanity Edmonton.

There are three areas of criteria for qualifying to purchase a HfH home:

Need:

* Children under age 18 living at home
* Current housing is substandard, does not meet their needs, or rent is more than 40 percent of income
* Must have been resident of Canada for three years and of the Edmonton area for one year

Ability to pay:

* Income between $32,000 and $54,000 annually
* At least one adult employed full-time year round
* Good credit rating
* balance between debt and income
* if family has experienced bankruptcy, must have been discharged for two years

Willingness to partner:

* Work 500 hours at the build site in place of a cash down payment
* Agree to keep home and yard in good condition
* Agree to follow all policies

http://www.hfh.org/index.php?_mode=s...Home-Ownership

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

Anyone have a map where this house would go?

Marked by bright green.

Google Maps Link

Address - 70 Arlington Drive.

Less than 600 M (5 minute walk) to Safeway grocery store and drug store. Existing bus stop right in front of the proposed development.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by frinkprof

Less than 600 M (5 minute walk) to Safeway grocery store and drug store. Existing bus stop right in front of the proposed development.

Oh noes!

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by frinkprof

What about New Brighton, Evanston, Capitol Hill and Mackenzie Towne?

Here's a two-unit Habitat for Humanity project in New Brighton:



http://www.habitatcalgary.ca/

They are also looking to put one in Airdrie.

Thats only one notch below a corrugated steel roof on a mud hut.

[Traditional_Ale]

^ I don't get it?

[Traditional_Ale]

^ Me talk pretty one day!? That unpossible! Now where did little Sally put my bong?

[V]

Originally Posted by frinkprof

Marked by bright green.

Google Maps Link

Address - 70 Arlington Drive.

Less than 600 M (5 minute walk) to Safeway grocery store and drug store. Existing bus stop right in front of the proposed development.

I lived right beside that site for 17 years. I'm kinda bummed that they're taking down that park. I spent countless hours playing there.

Regardless, that area is probably the ugliest in St. Albert, which isn't saying a whole lot. It was nice enough.