Not for Profit Homes for Black Saturday Survivors
5 May 2011 at 4:25 pm
International Not for Profit housing provider, Habitat for Humanity has launched its biggest campaign in Australia – to build up to 25 homes in Yea for families affected by Black Saturday bushfires
Habitat for Humanity says the Yea Heights Estate will be the biggest single project Habitat for Humanity has undertaken in Australia.
With land secured in the Victorian township of Yea, Habitat has around 10 per cent of the funding for the building work in place.
Today the organisation announced a major fundraising campaign to raise $4.8 million to complete the project.
Jo Brennan, CEO, Habitat for Humanity Australia says a properly planned and considered response to Black Saturday does not happen overnight and it has been essential for the organisation to get this right.
Brennan says that for the past two years the team in Victoria has been working hard to secure land, develop designs and plan for roads, water and infrastructure to make this project a reality.
According to Phillip Curtis, Executive Director, Habitat for Humanity Victoria, the aim of the project is to assist families who wish to remain in the area but who do not wish to or cannot return to the site of their former homes and/or lack the financial or physical capacity to re-build their homes.
Curtis says the project will see up to 25 Victorian families in need provided with decent and affordable homes, that will be built by there team of professional builders, other Habitat volunteers, as well as partner families who are expected to contribute ‘sweat equity’ to their project.
Yea is located 110km north-east of Melbourne and is close to many of the communities impacted by the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires.
Habitat for Humanity presented the designs for the homes at a special fundraising breakfast in Melbourne hosted by its largest long term partner QBE LMI.
Ian Graham, Chief Executive Officer, QBE LMI, believes the building of homes in Yea is the single most important project Habitat for Humanity has undertaken in Australia.
The houses have been designed to fit in with the existing character of the township of Yea, which has a population of 1100, and will be professionally designed, energy efficient and sustainable.
In keeping with the Habitat for Humanity model, the organisation says the families will be given “a hand up, not a hand out” so they will be expected to contribute a small deposit based on what they can afford and will be given a 10 year interest-free loan. They will also be expected to contribute their own “sweat equity” with hands-on work on the building of their home.
People wanting more information or to donate to the Habitat for Humanity Yea Heights project should contact Habitat for Humanity Victoria on (03) 9872 3530 or visit www.habitat.org.au/yea
