Richmond Community Foundation Supports Financial Literacy Training for Habitat Families

Financial literacy is not something that comes naturally and is often not something that is taught to us. Fundamentally, it is a set of skills and knowledge that allows us to make informed and effective decisions with all of our financial resources. Knowledge is power, and we could all benefit from the power of understanding and managing our financial worlds.

Huge thanks to the Richmond Community Foundation for their grant to support courses through the Credit Counselling Society offered to our partner families in Richmond. Aimed at basic financial management, education, and will and estate planning, this training helps our partner families to build wealth for their future.

“Transformative,” was how Kelley, one of our partner families, described the training sessions. Kelley first learned about the Credit Counselling Society in 2014 when she was looking for alternatives to bankruptcy. With the Society’s support and her hard work, she paid off her debts, changed her spending habits and developed a greater awareness of her finances.

When she became a Habitat partner, Kelley was excited to learn that Habitat worked with the Credit Counselling Society and saw it as an opportunity to ‘refresh’ her financial habits and implement new ideas. One takeaway so far is the importance of ‘pay yourself first’ and she is excited to see her savings start to grow. She is also looking forward to an upcoming session on will and estate planning – next on her ‘to do’ list.

Kelley highly recommends the training sessions claiming they give her peace of mind and relieve the stress and anxiety around credit card debt and debt in general. Tedros, another Richmond partner family, couldn’t agree more.

Tedros has attended the past three sessions hosted by the Credit Counselling Society and is looking forward to more over the next three months. He has found the information shared during and after the sessions very informative and has liked the way the facilitator has delivered and communicated the advice and tips. His greatest takeaway so far has been the importance of being consistent and focused on the management of his finances. Tedros thinks the sessions are critical for his learning and thinks that these courses can help families build their future by controlling expenses and increasing savings. Tedros is grateful for the learning opportunity and support. “Thank you to Habitat for arranging consecutive workshops and thank you to the Credit Counselling Society for providing these workshops,” he said.

Habitat families are selected based on a number of criteria, coming from overcrowded, over-priced, unhealthy, and unsafe environments. Stability is a challenge as many landlords are evicting with little notice so they can renovate, move in themselves, or sell given the current sky-rocketing prices. Families are reluctant to complain about deficiencies or safety concerns for fear of being asked to leave instead. With Habitat, a family’s monthly housing payment is no more than 30% of their total household income, which leaves money for nutritious food, education savings, and a healthier lifestyle.

“With the security and stability of an affordable place to live, our Habitat families can begin to focus on their family and preparing for their future” says Lynne Stanger, HFHGV Director of Family Services. “The financial literacy courses provided by the Credit Counselling Society provide our families with the knowledge, skills, and resources to build a strong financial foundation and be able to move into the open housing market sooner.”

On average, a Habitat partner family is ready to move into the open market within eleven years of having the stability of a Habitat home. When the family is ready to move on, they receive a portion of their equity back to use as a down payment on a home. This financial training is important in helping them to save and plan, contributing to breaking the cycle of poverty and setting them up for future success. When this family moves on, a new family moves in and begins their journey to stability.

Habitat’s 12-units of housing in Richmond has become its own little community, with families sharing a children’s playground and a communal garden. They have fostered friendships and have bonded through volunteering and dialogue sparked by events such as the financial training courses, bringing strength and resilience to this tight-knit group.

Habitat for Humanity Greater Vancouver relies on support from the community in the form of cash donations, gift in kind product, and volunteerism to build homes. THANK YOU to the Richmond Community Foundation for championing a better future for our families through the provision of this important financial training. Our organization and the families we serve are stronger because of you!