One Moree family has been given the ultimate Christmas gift - a brand new modular home - thanks to staff and inmates at St Heliers Correctional Centre, near Muswellbrook.
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The three bedroom modular home was constructed by inmates at the minimum-security correctional centre as part of Corrective Services Industries' (CSI) Affordable Housing Unit program.
CSI has collaborated with other government departments including Family and Community Services and the Aboriginal Housing Office to deliver modular construction projects through the Affordable Housing Unit program, which aims to address housing shortages in rural NSW communities while increasing inmates' employability through education and on the job training.
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It has a positive effect on the community and the offenders, who build demountable classrooms, construct homes for rural Aboriginal communities and have manufactured $1.5 million worth of buildings for the mining sector including crib huts, bath houses, change rooms and a first aid building.
About 75 inmates are currently engaged in the Affordable Housing Business Unit, in which they learn a variety of construction skills including plumbing, electrical wiring, waterproofing, tiling, gyprocking, painting, welding, scaffolding, framing and cladding.
They can gain a TAFE Certificate II or III in Construction as well as credentials in various other short courses such as crane or forklift licence.
The Moree house consists of 10 modules which were built by Aboriginal inmates in the Gundi program, which aims to boost the job prospects for Aboriginal offenders post-release.
The home was built in the prison and then transported to the site in Moree where it was assembled within a two-day period.