Low Cost Capital

Partners across Colorado’s community organizations and philanthropic entities are interested in new approaches to building affordable housing. We’ve raised construction finance loans with 0.5% interest and below by working with philanthropic funders such as: The Colorado Health Foundation, El Pomar Foundation, Donnell Kay Foundation, Kenneth King Foundation, Caring for Colorado, Dakota Foundation and Boettcher Foundation.

Furthermore, the Department of Local Affairs and The Division of Housing have matched the philanthropic dollars donated to the projects. We are also pursuing additional "“gap financing” funding to subsidize additional costs such as infrastructural improvements related to the project, with the goal of reducing the final price of each unit built.

Low Cost Construction

Standard stick-built construction is expensive and wasteful: on average, 30% of the material purchased for home construction ends up in a dumpster. In addition to this, the local labor force is (mostly) involved in high-end home construction, so even if subcontractors are compelled to work on affordable housing, the market sets a price of labor too expensive to build affordably.

By partnering with innovative Colorado companies such as Fading West (prefabricated construction) and Simple Homes (modular construction), we can significantly lower these on-site construction costs. For instance, Fading West builds 85% of the homes in their factory and ships them to the site in parts, allowing us to not only lock in prices on 85% of the house 8 months before construction, but also to save money on subcontractors by reducing the time it takes to assemble the house.

Donated Land

We can reduce the overall property values of our homes by securing land donations from municipal entities like towns or counties, or by securing funding to purchase land from private donors and state organizations. San Miguel County has donated land for development in Norwood, and philanthropic funding has been offered for land in Ridgway an Ouray. The ideal site has strict criteria in order to control the per-unit costs of building the homes. They are flat, infill, and adjacent to existing civic infrastructure in order to minimize grading, new street construction, or the extension of water and sewer lines.

Community Led Process

Each project is guided by a community design process that integrates the strength of each community to build new neighborhoods that improve economic, social, cultural, health, and environmental outcomes. Networks of residents, local governments, affordable housing advocates, business owners and government officials are all required to build places that reflect the desires of the community.