Habitat for Humanity Wood Buffalo has a new plot of land to build its fourth home on. A new family will be calling a different part of Waterways home after the Municipality decided to swap plots of land with the charity at no cost.
A plot of land bought by the charity on the corner of Tomlinson Street and Cliff Avenue has been swapped for land on Railway Avenue. A building on the new plot is scheduled to be demolished by the RMWB in August.
“They had a part on a hill that didn’t seem too sufficient for them [Habitat for Humanity], it got swapped out for something else we didn’t want to do what the MG [Municipal Government Act] commands us to do which is swap it at fair market value, we wanted to make sure that we were helping this non-profit,” said Mayor Melissa Blake.
Fair market value for the property was assessed at $122,500, a big cost for a charity that runs on tight margins.
“If absorbed for us it causes a loss of equity that would have a significant impact on the strength of our balance sheet and our ability to serve low income families in the region,” said Cameron Wilson, Board-Chair of the Habitat for Humanity Wood Buffalo.
The home will be the fourth construction in the region for Habitat for Humanity Wood Buffalo. A recipient family has already been chosen for the yet to be built home.
“She’s a single mom with two kids in the region, she has two teenage daughters in Rwanda who are going through an application process to come to Canada and we expect that in the next six months to be approved,” said Cameron Wilson, Board Chair of the Habitat for Humanity. “They are currently in a two bedroom unit at Wood Buffalo housing.”
It originally approached the Municipality for a land swap in 2014.
