'It’s more than a home. It's our forever home': Yorkton family receives Habitat key

A Yorkton family was given their dream home after an extensive building project by the Yorkton Chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

Tania Fleury’s youngest child couldn’t wait to open the doors of his new home Monday, after spending his entire life in two bedroom apartments.

Fleury’s two boys have had to share rooms for years, but that won’t be the case soon. The family were the 2022 recipients of a brand new home build on Darlington Street in Yorkton, a place where each member will get their own space — something Tania, a single mother, has only been able to dream about.

“Just being a single mom, it was hard financially to each get the boys their own room — it’s an extra hundred dollars, or whatever it is. The boys, being boys, would share. And I would get the small room. (I thought), ‘it would be nice, just to have our own space,” Fleury said.

This isn’t the first time she’s applied to become the recipient of the Habitat home. Fleury said about a decade ago, she had applied, but remembers a stack of paperwork being part of the process. This time around, she got a hand from someone at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Yorkton.

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She recalled getting the phone calls for making the top ten on the list, then to top three, before the final phone call came.

“I was like, ‘Wow,’” said Fleury. “I got the call, ‘You had been chosen,’ (and I thought), ‘Wow.’”

The family will still have a mortgage to pay back, but it is tied to how much Fleury herself makes. The home will also be property tax-free for the next five years, thanks to a commitment made by Yorkton Mayor Mitch Hippsley Monday.

“A person’s home is a person’s castle, it changes everything,” Hippsley said. “This is what makes Yorkton such a great place to live.”

The Fleury family also needed to get their hands a little dirty to ensure the home would be theirs. 500 community volunteer hours, either on the home construction or approved community activities, needed to be achieved to receive the key.

Fleury said her family volunteered hours on the home, along with volunteering at public skating, the upcoming Truck and Tractor pulls, and “wherever they needed us,” according to Fleury.

“It's a great feeling that we actually put our own work into it and were helping as it progressed, painting and laying cement. It’s more than a home. It's our forever home that we've helped along the way,” she said.

The home was built much in thanks to inmates at the White Spruce Provincial Training Centre, giving the group a chance to learn work skills and refine the skills they’ve already built up.

It’s become a successful working relationship, according to Habitat’s Yorkton Chapter.

The Fleury home is Yorkton Habitat for Humanity’s ninth home build in its history.