This Christmas, Habitat for Humanity Sunshine Coast (HFHSC) hopes to present two more families with the keys to their own homes.
The Habitat for Humanity build site dubbed “Sunshine Coast Village” in Wilson Creek presently has three duplexes with six families moved in, and volunteers are now working on another duplex to house two more.
The two new families have not been chosen yet, according to Laurie Vance, chair of HFHSC, but the committee is currently working on selection.
Assuming the families are chosen soon, they’ll have enough time to put their mandatory 500 hours of sweat equity into the build by early December, which could make a Christmas move-in date possible.
“It might be hard to get them in by Christmas, but that’s what we’re hoping for,” Vance said.
“We are looking forward to the completion of these Habitat for Humanity homes not only to provide these families with a place to call home, but to also enable them to acquire assets and break the cycle of poverty.”
On average it takes about a year for HFHSC to build a duplex; the newest one is framed, waiting for more work to be done inside.
Volunteers from Travelers Insurance came to the Coast on Oct. 4 and 5 to insulate the new duplex and erect a fence at Sunshine Coast Village.
The team of 20 volunteers, only two of them from the Coast, donned work boots and hard hats and got right to work under the supervision of construction manager Sean Whalen.
Shelagh Paul with Travelers Insurance said the Coast build was just one of many Habitat for Humanity projects the company was helping with this year.
“We have 10 builds going on this fall right from Halifax to the Sunshine Coast,” Paul said.
“We’ve tried to pair up our office teams in physical locations so our employees can get out and spend some time giving back to the community.”
HFHSC is a non-profit organization relying on volunteers and donations of money, goods and services to create affordable housing for families in need.
An average duplex unit (which has three bedrooms and one-and-a-half bathrooms) costs around $200,000 to build with volunteer help, allowing families to take on mortgages well below what would be found in the regular marketplace.
Find out more about HFHSC at www.habitatsc.ca. See more photos in our online galleries at www.coastreporter.net
