Habitat For Humanity Australia Affiliate Receives Land From Local Government To Build Three Houses In New South Wales

Construction to begin in second half of 2006 on Eungella Place, Orange site

ORANGE, New South Wales, 17th May 2006: Habitat for Humanity Australia’s New South Wales (NSW) affiliate has been granted land by the Orange City Council to build three houses in Eungella Place.

This is the first time that the local government, the Orange City Council, has donated land to HFH Australia for the construction of houses. Orange City is about 250 km. west of Sydney, the New South Wales state capital.

Layout: Proposed design for a four-bedroom Habitat house in Eungella Place, Orange by McKinnon Design

The three houses will be built based on a design done by local company McKinnon Design. The houses will have brick exterior perimeter walls with timber frames and steel roofs. Depending on the needs, each house will comprise three or four bedrooms as well as a kitchen, a toilet and a bathroom.

According to Stephen Lewin, a member of the Orange chapter of the HFH NSW affiliate, the donated land will be divided into three residential housing lots with works on sewerage, drainage connections and other utilities to be completed first. The house plans will then be submitted to the Orange City Council for approval before construction of the houses begins in the second half of 2006.

Interviews are currently being conducted to select the homepartner families that will include one Indigenous, or aboriginal, family. Families will be selected based on their needs, ability to repay, and willingness to partner Habitat in contributing their own labor in building the house.

Recent research by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (Ahuri) has identified that finding affordable, secure and appropriate housing is a major problem for lower income Australian households.

“The introduction of the Habitat model will not only assist in addressing the growing needs for affordable housing but will also help in strengthening the local community,” said Lewin from the Orange chapter.

Orange City has a current population of more than 37,000 and about four per cent of its population is Indigenous Australians.