Caterpillar lends hand for worthy habitat

A worldwide organisation dedicated to assisting the needy and families affected by natural disasters, Habitat for Humanity builds or renovates simple, affordable housing for sale.
The ‘Yea Heights’ project - the largest housing project that Habitat Australia has undertaken, recently harnessed the strength of Caterpillar’s Compact Construction Equipment as well as Caterpillar and William Adams staff volunteers to transform the five acre site over a three day period in mid-May.
The fleet of Mini Excavators and Multi Terrain Loaders operated by Cat personnel - under the expert tutelage of William Adams’ operator trainer, John Merlo - worked rapidly to prepare the site for housing construction and infrastructure installation.
Habitat for Humanity is the world’s largest not for profit homebuilder having constructed more than 370,000 homes in all parts of the globe since its formation 36 years ago.
Operating in Australia since 1988, the organisation has had a presence in Victoria for 12 years having constructed more than 40 homes in the State.
According to Habitat for Humanity’s Yea project director, Neil Shields, the group’s focus is on giving a hand-up rather than a hand-out to those in need.
“We work in partnership with families based on their need and their willingness to work with us to help build their own home.
“They work with us from the start on the house and in doing so gain dignity, self esteem, confidence, learn skills and when they move in they can say ‘I helped build this house’,” Shields said.
Under the normal Habitat program recipients of housing also commit up to 500 hours of ‘sweat equity’ to Habitat - which is typically accumulated on their own house construction.
When the house is complete, the family purchase it from Habitat for a price that was set prior to construction with Habitat providing the mortgage with a low deposit and repayments at 25 per cent of the household income.
“We are absolutely blown away to have Caterpillar and William Adams involved - we never take anything for granted in doing this and are continually amazed at the generosity companies like Cat and William Adams show,” Shields said.
For more information visit: www.habitat.org.au