Regina woman setting sights on new home with crowdfunding

A Regina mother is taking an unusual step to owning her own home. But with rental costs and high interest rates, that goal is becoming a challenge for Lori Deets.

It pushed her to reach out for help online by starting crowdfunding by setting her sights on a $50,000 trailer.

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“I’ve known home ownership isn’t an affordable option for me, as a student especially,” said Deets. “I can’t afford the mortgage … with the rental steadily increasing, I can hardly afford the rent, I’m paying half of my living in rental right now.”

Deets lives off $1,500 a month through student loans and child tax benefits for herself and her 14-year-old son, Alex.

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“Being a single mom, I need to provide that for both me and my son. And I need to be dependent on myself,” she said. “There’s just no way out of this situation.”

Deets started messaging her friends on Nov. 5, 2023, asking for money to spare.

“I had one or two calls actually, people making sure I either haven’t been hacked or that it is (real),” she said. “That was funny, and I got some cold messaging of people; it wasn’t overly great. I know people are struggling.”

Darrick Latsay, the CEO of Habitat for Humanity Saskatchewan, said even though Saskatchewan is one of the more affordable areas in the country, home ownership can still be challenging.

“At the same time, the cost of building the cost of land, everything is rising at a rate that seems to be moving the goalposts on home ownership,” said Latsay. “What was a fair income to own a home just a few years ago is now placing people outside of that traditional home ownership.”

Latsay said even though he has not seen situations where people are using crowdfunding to obtain a home, he says he isn’t surprised by how people are coming up with ways to work towards home ownership.

“I think the world is changing in many ways. One of them is the affordability of homeownership but also the power of social media,” he said.

“I think that there’s a lot of opportunities for people to satisfy their need for stability through various ways, and that’s just one of the tools that’s offered.”

Deets has so far raised almost $11,000 and hopes her wait will soon be over with the help of her friends and others who wish to support her goal.