Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn are expected to come to the Edmonton area in 2017 to participate in a massive Habitat for Humanity Build.
On Monday, Habitat for Humanity Edmonton announced it would be part of the 34th Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project, the biggest Habitat for Humanity build project in Canada ever.
The project will see 150 homes built, to mark Canada’s 150th anniversary in 2017.
The project will take place in more than 40 communities, including Edmonton and Fort Saskatchewan.
The Carters will focus their efforts in Edmonton, and in Winnipeg.
“In the Habitat world, getting the Carter Work Project is almost like winning the Olympics,” Habitat for Humanity President Alfred Nikolai said.
A total of 75 homes will be built in southeast Edmonton as part of the project.
“[I] can’t wait to get out and swing a hammer myself, but what it means cumulatively is several hundred more new neighbours who will benefit from this new housing,” Mayor Don Iveson said.
The project has a $26 million price tag. The city is contributing $4 million in land, the province is chipping in more than $4 million.
“I can’t wait for Rosalynn and President Carter to come visit so they can see the amazing impact their efforts are having on our province,” Alberta premier Rachel Notley said.
Under the Habitat for Humanity model, families who will live in the homes will spend 500 hours building the homes they will live in.
“The people who’ve been given the chance to settle their families through the Habitat model and put their sweat equity into building their unit, I have huge respect for those people and I think they’ll earn the respect of their neighbours,” Iveson said.
The new development will be called Carter Place, and will be complete by 2018.
With files from Shanelle Kaul
