Upgrading the homes of needy families rather than building properties from scratch is to be the new focus of Habitat for Humanity Bermuda.

The charity said yesterday that the cost and availability of land on the Island was making it difficult to provide new houses so it would instead focus on repair work for people living in substandard homes.

Habitat executive board member Apryle Oswald told The Royal Gazette: "This pro bono type work, it's something we have always done. Now we will concentrate on the pro bono projects.

"With the new builds, we were doing it on a loan basis. We were expecting the families to pay the money back over time.

"This will be for lower income families that can't afford to pay back the cost of the projects. We will be doing them with Habitat funds and they will not be required to repay us."

She added: "We feel we can help more people in these difficult economic times and we can see immediate results when people really need that kind of support."

Board member Sheelagh Cooper said the change in direction would mean a vast increase in the number of families benefiting from Habitat's help, with between 30 and 40 likely to be assisted in the coming year.

Each project will cost less than $10,000 — but will be worth much more in actual value, since much of the labour and items needed will be donated for free.

Ms Cooper, from the Coalition for the Protection of Children, said Habitat had recently helped a single mother who was told her three young children could be taken into care due to their living conditions.

"We worked closely with the family and the Department [of Child and Family Services] in order to rehabilitate the unit and save the children. In this house, it was a dirt floor. We put a tiled floor down.

"The windows were all broken and the door didn't lock properly. We replaced the windows and the doors. We gave them a fridge and a stove."

Ms Oswald said: "That's why we do what we do – just the ability to help someone and to know that we contributed to somebody's life in such a meaningful way."

Habitat already works closely with the Coalition identify families in need but is hoping to widen its scope by reaching out to other organisations and churches.

The repair projects carried out over the next year will cost the charity about $140,000. Ms Oswald said Habitat's main sponsors Renaissance Re and Bank of Bermuda supported the change in direction.

She added that donations were always needed and that companies could even choose a specific project to support.

Habitat will cut annual costs of about $120,000 this year by becoming a purely volunteer organisation, no longer having a salaried executive director.

Ms Cooper said: "The only costs that we have are costs for services, including project management and professional services, such as plumbers and electricians and so on."

To contact Habitat call 296-0256 or visit www.habitat.bm.