Habitat for Humanity helps families rebuild their futures

When 500 people are volunteering to build 14 homes for disadvantaged families with the financial and material support of multinational companies in only five days, a spectacular construction event is likely to ensue. It happened simultaneously in Preajba village, Dolj County and Oradea, Bihor County, thanks to the Romanian subsidiary of the Habitat for Humanity Organization.

By Oana Vasiliu

Modestly-sized houses which are large enough for the occupying family’s needs, but small enough to keep construction and maintenance costs to a minimum, with two bedrooms, a kitchen, living room and bathroom, are now hosting 14 Romanian families with low incomes. Through volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, Habitat builds and rehabilitates these simple, decent houses. The families accepted by the Habitat program have to participate actively in the building of their own home and the homes of other beneficiary families in their community. Once the building is done, the partner families pay off the mortgage over 20 years at no interest, and invest up to 1,000 hours of sweat equity in other Habitat homes.

The sums collected go into the Fund for Humanity, a rotating scheme that can help finance other construction sites and many more families. This is how the organization, which first appeared in 1976, operates and has managed to provide more than 500,000 families worldwide with homes.

The organization has existed inRomaniasince 1996, and to date more than 3,900 families have been helped through Habitat for Humanity projects. The program has included the construction and rehabilitation of homes and apartment blocks, energy-efficient housing, affordable housing for vulnerable groups and a disaster response program.

Multinationals do their part

This year, the Big Build project gathered major donors to help build the Habitat houses. Vodafone Foundation invested EUR 100,000 in this project and 300 employees volunteered on the site of Preajba village. Moreover, thanks to Wienerberger, the world’s largest brick producer, the houses were constructed with bricks, for the first time since the project started. Wienerberg became one of the program’s major donors by planning to build 140 homes inRomania, starting with these 14 houses that are now inhabited.

Several other multinational companies and organizations also supported the project: Caminul Felix Oradea, PorscheRomania, Europharm, Celestica, Lafarge Romania, Good Sign, UrsaRomania, Elpreco, Kronospan, Dolj Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Bihor Companies Association.

Romania’s need for houses

According to Housing Condition in Europe, a report released by Eurostat in 2011, five million Romanian families are living in extreme poverty, one million do not have heating, drinking water or sewage facilities, 41.2 percent of the population do not have a bathtub or a shower, 55.3 percent of Romanians are living in overcrowded conditions, against a European average of 17.8 percent, while 28.6 percent are living in severely dilapidated homes, the biggest percentage in Europe.