$2.4million for 11 new affordable homes in Marysville area
Shane Hilder and his children
(left to right
Maddison, Kieran and Lachlan)
at the site of their
new four-bedroom Marysville home.
Eleven new affordable homes with funding of $2.4 million from the
Australian Government’s Nation Building Stimulus Plan will be built
in Marysville and Kinglake to help communities recovering from last
year’s devastating bushfires.
Shane Hilder was one such person affected. Recently widowed,
Shane
and his three children Lachlan 15
and 13 year-old twins Maddison
and Kieran, lost their home and all
their possessions. Since then the
family have lived with relatives and
in temporary accommodation.
Shane’s greatest wish came true
recently when State Housing
Minister Richard Wynne visited
Marysville and introduced Shane and his family to members of the
Dennis Family
Corporation who are to build a four-bedroom home to be ready for the
family to
occupy in April.
Work on the other 10 new affordable homes is already underway and
residents will
be able to move into houses that are fully compliant with the new
Building Code’s
Bushfire Attack level. The homes will generate up to eight jobs in
the construction
industry - work for local people in the area was another key element
of the recovery
process.
Two of the homes will be built following a public tender, organised
by the Brumby
Government, the Victorian Bushfire reconstruction and Recovery
(VBRRA) and the
Office of the Victorian Government Architect (OVGA). This project
will focus on
producing affordable, good quality, well designed homes that are
both six-star
energy rated and fully compliant with the Building Code’s Bushfire
Attack Level. It is
hoped the homes stand out as examples of new buildings in
bushfire-prone areas.
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