Four Saskatoon families will soon have homes to call their own thanks to many volunteers – including 13 PotashCorp employees from Saskatoon and 11 from PotashCorp's Northbrook office – who dedicated their time and hard work to Habitat for Humanity Saskatoon.

"It's very satisfying for us to donate our physical labor to help build homes for low-income families here in Saskatoon," said Rhonda Speiss, Manager of Public Relations, PotashCorp. "This is a wonderful way for our employees to give back to one of the communities where PotashCorp operates."

The Habitat for Humanity project includes construction of four adjacent houses in the west end of Saskatoon with work on a fifth yet to begin. The city, home of PotashCorp's head office, has a buoyant economy that's reflected in steeply rising real estate values. While that situation may be welcome news for those who own homes, it's an increasingly difficult problem for first-time buyers who have limited means.

"This is a problem that has moved to middle income families," says Rod Lund, construction manager at Habitat's Saskatoon office. "You've got a family earning a decent income of maybe, $30,000 or $35,000 a year. But that's no longer enough to get a mortgage in this market."

Sharon Prediger, who screens applicants for Habitat's Saskatoon operation, says she's receiving three to four times the number of telephone inquiries she was fielding two years ago.

"We have never had such a waiting list as the one we have now," said Prediger, adding Saskatoon Habitat currently has 19 approved families waiting for homes. "Three years ago, we were looking for families."

Prediger says the strong need for affordable housing in Saskatoon makes PotashCorp's regular volunteer work and yearly donations to Habitat Saskatoon very much appreciated.

"PotashCorp sends us a check every year – which we welcome. And they very generously support our Women Build projects, which we do every second year."

Habitat for Humanity provides interest-free mortgage arrangements to low-income working families who have an acceptable level of debt, and who commit to volunteering 500 hours of work to Habitat Saskatoon.

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