Construction project site in Hungary serves as launch for unique Habitat partnership

HAJDUBOSZORMENY, HUNGARY: A groundbreaking ceremony was held this week to celebrate and launch the beginning of partnership that will be a first for Habitat for Humanity in the Europe and Central Asia region.

Hajduboszormeny, a town of 30,000 in the northeast of Hungary, will be the first town to serve as an official partner of Habitat for Humanity in ECA.

As the first town partner, Hajduboszormeny will handle most of the administrative tasks and provide most of the management resources connected to local operations and the land for the Habitat houses. Habitat will provide construction know-how, the financing solution and supervise the project through its national staff and a local project manager.

“The local government is extremely happy about this co-operation,” said Arpad Uzonyi from the Development Office of Hajduboszormeny. “We witness today the launch of a social housing program that is unique in our region. We are certain this initiative will gain the support of the local community and improve the living conditions of many families in Hajduboszormeny.”

This partnership will enable Habitat to rely on the functions the municipality already has, relying on the experience and knowledge of a local partner to establish links with the local community.

The project is also unique in the sense that Habitat will not use any of its funds from the loan repayments to finance the construction. Habitat will borrow the funds from ELLA Bank, and will repay it upon receipt of payment from the homeowners.

The idea behind this new concept started two years ago when Habitat for Humanity Hungary decided to change its affiliate structure to build more houses. This year, Habitat will build 17 new homes, up from eight new constructions last year.

Habitat for Humanity Hungary National Director Gyorgy Sumeghy views the new project as three pilots in one. “If all three (pilots) work they can be used as a model for other Habitat organizations,” he said.

During the groundbreaking ceremony, the build was blessed by priests from the local Calvinist, Greek Catholic and Roman Catholic churches and a time capsule was buried at the site containing the official agreement between Habitat and the Town of Hajduboszormeny, the names of the families and newspapers from the date of the groundbreaking.

The ceremony and a subsequent reception was attended by all eight families, including the Szegedi family. Antal and Aniko and their three children, Benjamin, 6, Balint, 4, and Rebeka, 2, currently live with Aniko’s parents in a 16 square metre room. They share the bathroom and kitchen with Aniko’s parents. The cramped living conditions have become increasingly difficult as the children have started to grow, leaving the young couple with little privacy for their family.

Antal, who works as an electrician at the local General Electric plant, said a new home will mean stability and security for his wife and children. As the couple met the other Habitat families at the event, Antal said, “We expect to have many new friends among our new neighbours.”

Longtime Habitat partner Citigroup will send four groups of volunteers from its Budapest office every Friday in September to complete the homes.