Date: August 12, 2011

A new Habitat for Humanity house is under construction at Hawke’s Bay prison

Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule spent time at Hawke’s Bay Prison on Friday to help with the construction of a Habitat for Humanity Central North Island house.

Construction of the four bedroom house began at the prison last Monday and is expected to be completed by early November.

A supervisor will oversee the construction of the 105 square metre home with labour coming from the prison’s rehabilitation section.

Corrections Inmate Employment (CIE) area operations manager Phil Harman says five prisoners studying for National Certificates in Building Construction and Allied Trade will be building the house.

"This project supports a worthwhile local community initiative and allows the prisoners to give something back to the public” Mr Harman says.

“For the men involved it is also a unique opportunity to put their classroom learned skills to real practical use. It can only increase the likelihood of them getting work in the construction industry on release.”

“The work is very important because getting released prisoners into stable jobs has been shown to reduce reoffending. In addition to using their trade training, the experience also teaches the prisoners to work as a team and develop other life skills.”

The house is being built in two pieces, which will be craned over the prison’s perimeter fence and transported to a section in St Leonards, where it will be made ready for occupation by the end of November.

Habitat for Humanity has built an impressive 95 homes in the Central North Island region since 1995 for kiwi families, who are in need of a safe and affordable place to live. The house currently under construction will be the eighth Habitat home in Hastings.

Lawrence Yule says” Habitat relies heavily on volunteers to build the homes. This project, in which Habitat partners with the Corrections Department to build a complete home from the ground up, is a first for New Zealand”.

“Council is pleased to be able to support this worthy project through the annual plan process” Mr Yule says.

General Manager of Habitat for Humanity Central North Island, Nic Greene considers it an excellent opportunity for Habitat to be able to partner with both the local community and Corrections. “We believe that Habitat projects make a real difference in the communities in which we work and this initiative will take us one step further towards our vision, a world where everyone has a decent place to live”.

In partnership with low income New Zealand families in housing need, Habitat works to eliminate sub-standard housing by building and renovating simple, decent homes on an affordable basis. Habitat brings people together to build homes and communities.

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