Habitat for Humanity responds to call for housing after Fort McMurray's wildfire
Agency partners with four other groups to provide housing for wildfire victims
Habitat for Humanity Wood Buffalo is coming to the aid of wildfire victims after a surge of requests for help.
The group is joining four others to help uninsured or underinsured homeowners whose homes were damaged or destroyed in May's wildfire.
"The status of home ownership is so crucial to so many things stability wise," said Crystal Lewis-Wilton, executive director of Habitat for Humanity Wood Buffalo.
"We really felt that it was necessary to help these families rather than going back into a rental market or potentially going into bankruptcy."
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May's wildfire destroyed over 2,400 homes in Fort McMurray. But many houses that weren't destroyed were damaged by heat, smoke and water.
Seven months after the wildfire, policyholders are still battling insurance companies over repairs to their homes.
While Habitat for Humanity Wood Buffalo receives about 15 to 20 applications annually, this year it has received 120 applications since the fire.
Because of the demand, Habitat for Humanity Wood Buffalo, the Mennonite Disaster Service, Samaritan's Purse and FuseSocial have formed the organization NGOs Supporting Uninsured and Underinsured Residents (NSUR).
In addition to helping people with construction, the groups are helping residents who are insured and have made little progress.
"With the underinsured, our focus is helping to connect those people with some third party consulting-wise, who can review their policy, help them understand if there's anyone else they can potentially get out of their policy," Lewis-Wilton said.
In some cases, NSUR won't rebuild homes but will provide free or discounted materials labour.
Habitat for Humanity Wood Buffalo is in the process of constructing a home in the Fort McMurray subdivision of Waterways, the area hit hardest by the wildfire.
It might be the first home up in the community when construction is complete in January.
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