Two local La Plata County women were this year’s benefactors of the
Habitat’s La Plata County executive director Rachel Taylor-Saghie said the homes broke ground in April, with construction starting in May. They were completed this fall, and the two women were able to move in just before Thanksgiving.
“We wanted to get them moved in before the holidays,” Taylor-Saghie said.
The Habitat for Humanity program in La Plata County builds about two new homes a year. Since 2008, the organization has provided 19 homes to persons who financially qualify. It has space for 14 more homes on lots in the Fox Farm subdivision in Bayfield.
More than 50 percent of wage earners in the county qualify for the program, Taylor-Saghie said. People who enter the program and move into a home must pay a 30-year mortgage, structured with payments at 30 percent of the family’s monthly income.
This year, two La Plata County natives now have a place to call home.
Heather Mobley and her three children were living in subsidized, affordable housing before they found Habitat for Humanity. Mobley said affordable housing was a good “stepping stone,” but not a great long-term solution as the housing mandates a set income.
“I wasn’t able to get an extra job or go back to school; so I was really stuck in one spot,” Mobley, who works at Four Corners OB/GYN, said. “Now, I have the opportunity to go back to school.”
Aliona Grinnan, who works at Durango Motor Co., said owning her own home will “set me up for success.”
She added, “I can now build equity instead of throwing money away on rent.”
Taylor-Saghie estimated 7,200 volunteer hours went into the construction of the new homes, each with three bedrooms and two baths at an estimated value of $210,000.
Significant contributions were made by Edgewood Construction, Four Corners Materials and TL Roofing. Funders included Richard Ballantine, Christ the King Lutheran Church, First National Bank of Durango, First United Methodist Church and the Wells Fargo Foundation.
In 2016, Habitat also received about $88,000 in mortgage payments from clients in homes it has previously built and made $97,000 from ReStore sales to help build future homes.
Donations to support Habitat for Humanity of La Plata County may be made at habitatlaplata.org, and they will be restricted for use in this community.
jromeo@durangoherald.com
