This time next year, Jenny Mbamulu could be sautéing huckleberry leaves in her new kitchen. Mbamulu, an elementary school teacher, will be moving into a Habitat for Humanity Greater Ottawa home in 2027 with her teenage daughter in the local chapter’s most ambitious project to date: Beechcliffe Homes, a development of 33 affordable townhomes in Nepean.
“I’m looking forward to having a garden and a garage to put my car in,” said the exuberant, Cameroon-born Mbamulu at the recent Habitat groundbreaking ceremony for Beechcliffe Homes. “And talking to neighbours over the fence — I’m excited about that.”
Mbamulu’s garden plans include “spices, celery and parsley and some Cameroonian vegetables. The best one is called huckleberry. You fry up the leaves like spinach. It’s delicious.”
Attended by more than 100 people, including local and provincial political representatives, the groundbreaking meant homeownership was finally in the cards for Mbamulu, a single parent whose income made owning a home an impossible dream until she applied to Habitat. “It’s very exciting. The reality is coming closer.”
With Beechcliffe, like other Habitat projects, the buyer pays fair market value for the home but does not have to make a downpayment and accesses other arrangements that make ownership feasible.
Facing down the housing crisis
A joint partnership between Habitat and private, Ottawa-based homebuilder Caivan, and aided by municipal and provincial funding, the project received so many expressions of interest when it was announced in December 2025 that Habitat paused the new application process after just one week. The non-profit agency, which has been building homes in Ottawa for 33 years, had never received so many applications in such a short period of time.
“I don’t need to tell you there’s a housing crisis going on,” Habitat CEO Sara Cooper said after the ceremony. “Being able to offer a multitude of options for housing for people that meets them where they’re at… is a wonderful solution. And the city’s support in providing the land (it was originally set aside as a potential LRT corridor), funding and ongoing support for the project is unbelievable for us.”
MORE: Beechcliffe Homes deluged by applicants
Factory-built homes a first
With occupancy slated for mid-2027, construction at Beechcliffe will be a rapid-fire exercise that would not be possible without Caivan’s factory-based homebuilding technology.
The company’s manufacturing sister business, ABIC (Advanced Building Innovation Company), uses artificial intelligence, robotics and generative design for faster, improved homebuilding. Roofs, framed rooms and other components are assembled at its Barrhaven factory and delivered to building sites. There, a home can be assembled in less than two hours and then finished with siding and interior elements.
Not only does the process save substantial time and reduce costs compared to conventional homebuilding techniques, but factory building means a high degree of precision, with construction standards measured in fractions of millimetres, says Susan Murphy, Caivan’s president of land development. “The quality is higher, corners are going to match, the tightness of the home, the efficiency of your HVAC system — (there are) all those good improvements within the home.”
Caivan is also intimately familiar with the homes it will build for Habitat, an organization Murphy describes as a “leader in attaining affordable homeownership:” the homes are the company’s three-bedroom freehold towns available at various of its developments.
For Mbamulu, her townhome means gardening, a garage, an opportunity to meet new neighbours. But, as she explained when she addressed the crowd during the groundbreaking ceremony, it’s also the fulfillment of a journey. “For a long time, stability was something I worked toward but could never reach… You have given children like mine a future that feels grounded and secure.”
