It won't be long before a family has a new home in Portage la Prairie. That's according to Habitat for Humanity Portage Chapter co-chair Charlie Clifford, who says they've been making excellent progress on their 6th Avenue North East. He says cosmetic work including cabinets, painting and vanities has been completed, and they're now working to get the more technical aspects in place.

"We're putting in the flooring this week. The final electrical and plumbing will be done in a couple weeks. The stone on the front, I think, is supposed to be done this week. Then, we just have to wait for the snow to melt so we can put down grass and put up a fence. We're looking at our families moving in the last week of March or the first week of April."

Clifford says there's been no shortage of community support for the project, with volunteers helping to build, or even help feed those who've come out to work on the home.

"I would say there's been over 200 volunteers involved in the project. School students from PCI, and lots of other people. We didn't have some groups that we've had in our other builds but we've had enough people. We're very lucky that the community support for Habitat has been just tremendous."

With the current build close to wrapping up, those behind the scenes are already starting to plan for the future. Clifford notes there's an obvious challenge in the cost of their work, possibly leading to a scale back in next year's activities. However, he says they're working on some exciting plans for whatever comes next.

"It's starting to cost us more, as it does everybody else. We were able to get properties before, now we're buying properties so that makes a difference. We were hoping to build two houses in 2017, but I think we might have to go back to one. However, we're looking at some neat things, I think, making our houses a little greener, even though they're fairly green right now."

Clifford notes they'll have high school students coming by the house in the near future to put up the hanging ceiling in the basement, adding it's really starting to look like a home.