Building in 2023 has been going gangbusters at Habitat Vail Valley. To meet our aspirational goal of increasing building capacity, we have layered innovative solutions on top of our traditional home-building model. This year, that means we have 24 homes under construction, 16 of which are a modular pilot program allowing us to build three times as many homes in a one-year period than our normal on-average number.
Over a three-year period, we are doubling our impact: building 40 homes and recycling six with hardworking locals. This is a lot for us — but it’s not enough. Our application cycle for homeownership just closed, and we received 143 applications. That’s not just a number: it is 143 families who need and deserve a safe, affordable place to live. These are locals who help keep our community running, who have children in our schools and who add to the fabric of our community.
I love this time of year — the office comes alive with families stopping in and asking questions. We get to meet those who may become future Habitat homeowners. They come with such hope and excitement. It reminds me why I work for Habitat Vail Valley. But then I am brought back to reality: These 143 applicants are hardworking members of our community. They are teachers, retail workers, bank tellers, construction workers, police officers. They are people I see at the grocery, you see at the rec center, at school and out walking on the bike path. Habitat Vail Valley very well may be their last option as they look to deepen their roots and find permanence in our community
The number of applicants grows every year. Where we used to get 30 to 50, we are now consistently getting more than 100 people applying to help build their homes. I wonder how we, the collective we, are going to sustain this building capacity.
We made the most of grants, diversified funding and private donations with our aspirational plan of doubling our impact. We were awarded once-in-a-generation funding after COVID-19. That money won’t be available in the future which leaves us with the conundrum of how to sustain this building capacity without the same level of state and federal investment. And it’s not just us — other nonprofit housing developers across the country ramped up their building but now need to figure out the next steps.
We are not alone: Permanently affordable for-sale housing is in short supply across the country. With strong leadership from our board and key stakeholders, we are exploring creative ways to maintain our increased capacity. We can’t dial back our efforts now.
We will continue with our traditional building program. But to maintain our capacity increase we need to look to incremental, innovative housing solutions.
We look to partner with new organizations to build affordable homes. Our partnership with Eagle County School District has proven to be a lifeline for teachers. Innovative solutions often start as conversations. We’d love to chat about how we can work together to build long-term affordable housing.