Three families to get homes from Habitat for Humanity
Local builders ‘thrilled’ to step forward with donations this year
Three homes will be donated to families in need through Habitat for Humanity (HFH) Edmonton courtesy of local homebuilders donating one house each.
The announcement was made Wednesday during the sixth annual celebration of Habitat Day with a crowd of community donors in attendance at the Delta Edmonton South.
Twenty-eight homes have been donated to date through local homebuilders.
Landmark Group of Builders, Pacesetter Homes Ltd. and Daytona Group are this year’s donors, each having already contributed in prior years.
“This is our second home that we’ve donated through Habitat for Humanity,” said Sandy Ladd, vicepresident of housing for Daytona.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to be a part of an organization … that’s been around for this long and has done such great work. This will be our second of many.”
Now in its 25th year of operation, HFH builds homes for families in need through the work of volunteers and donations.
Habitat Day since its inception in 2011 has been an annual celebration to honour the sponsors that help fund HFH, and has proven to be instrumental in the organization’s growth.
“We’ve helped over 450 families in the last 25 years, but 350 of those have been done in the last five years,” according to HFH president and CEO Alfred Nikolai.
“So we’ve really become a significant part of affordable housing in all of our communities.”
Board member Oryssia Lennie said HFH has allocated more than $7 million in assets through local builder partnerships with Habitat Day.
“Our charity’s success comes from those who believe we must invest in our communities to make them even stronger and healthier,” she said at a news conference. “Each one of us benefits from a successful Habitat program.”
The Edmonton affiliate is the largest in the country, with 58 spread throughout 10 provinces and two territories, according to their website.
It currently helps build 60 to 70 homes a year, but with the Alberta government pledging to spend $892 million on affordable housing over the next five years, HFH is hoping a portion of that funding will go to boosting the numbers to about 140 homes a year.
“We just believe that our model is a way that will improve and get rid of the whole issue of people living paycheque to paycheque because they don’t have a safe, decent and affordable place to live,” Nikolai said.
“We haven’t heard officially yet if our government will help us, but we’re very optimistic and hopeful.”
We’ve helped over 450 families in the last 25 years, but 350 of those have been done in the last five years.