Foster agency CareSouth and Habitat for Humanity worked together for the first time on the project.

Habitat for Humanity executive director James Allardice said when Habitat was looking for a project in the Shoalhaven, the organisation came across CareSouth.

“We were taken by their ethos,” he said.

“So we asked what we could do to meet their needs and they had this project.”

The project was a residential group house, already occupied by two young people supported by CareSouth. 

With Habitat for Humanity’s help and under the guidance of volunteer project manager Greg Boyd, the home was renovated to include another two bedrooms and two bathrooms to allow another two young people a place to live.

This was Habitat for Humanity’s first major development in the Shoalhaven, having previously worked on smaller ventures as part of a project called A Brush With Kindness.

CareSouth community relations manager Jennifer Nelson said the experience was a positive one for the organisation.

“And it was a positive experience for the kids in the house because they were able to help and it gave one in particular new skills,” she said.

“We do hope to continue the relationship and it’s just a matter of finding opportunities.”

She said CareSouth hoped in the future to run programs such as a specialist youth homelessness service and a community hub with a focus on integrating people with disabilities.

“That would answer a need that exists in the community,” she said. 

Habitat for Humanity was started in the US in 1976 and launched in Australia in 1988.

Its main focus in the early years was on providing housing for people overseas.

James said the group was in constant need of support from tradespeople and land donors.

CareSouth’s residential service provides young people who cannot live at home, for a number of reasons, with a nurturing, caring and stable environment.