Community of Hope breaks ground
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - Low-income families have a new chance for housing in Idaho Falls.
Habitat for Humanity broke ground on its first local subdivision on Wednesday.
The Community of Hope will allow struggling families to purchase affordable homes in a safe area.
“The goal is to have a community that stays affordable forever," Idaho Falls Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Karen Lansing said. "We adjust the payments, so it doesn't matter if you're only making 1500 dollars a month. 30% of that would be your mortgage payment.”
Habitat for Humanity created the project in response to the rising cost of homes in our area. Many of the people Lansing met were unable to afford the growing cost of rent.
Due to lack of resources, even those with stable jobs have difficulty finding housing within their budget.
“These are people that are working. They have entry-level jobs. But when you're earning seven 25 an hour to $15 an hour, you cannot afford $1,200 a month for an apartment,” Lansing said.
Habitat for Humanity’s hope for housing project assisted individual families to find housing in the past.
But as housing costs rise in our area, and more people need assistance, the charity realized they needed to build more housing fast.
“The cost of purchasing ground to build on has escalated at went from 15 to $22,000 per building site to over $75,000 per building site," Lansing said. "Habitat was choking financially so we started looking for a place where we could start our first subdivision.”
The first subdivision will be called Peterson’s Farm, after the family who sold the property.
The community will house several multi-family homes within the coming years.
“We're going to try to expand the number of different types of homes that we build. Currently, we build single-family homes," Lansing said. "We're building a triplex right now. But the community of hope will have tiny homes attached dwellings and single-family dwellings.”
Volunteers at Habitat for Humanity hope they can start moving families into the community next year.
