NEW HOME CONSTRUCTION

"Sometimes it takes a lot of people to make a dream come true" -2016 Habitat Homeowner, Eliana Hardy

The cost of housing in Laramie County is among the highest in the region. When families pay a disproportionate amount of income on housing, they may make sacrifices that cause them, their families, and our community harm.  Too many of our neighbors pay too much for homes that are unsafe, unhealthy and inadequate.  And with a high cost of rent,  saving to purchase a home becomes far out of reach.

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Habitat for Humanity offers an alternative. As a mission-driven builder of homes, we make the dream of homeownership a reality by partnering with local businesses, civic and religious groups to build a home for a low to moderate-income family to purchase with a combination of sweat equity (building their own home alongside volunteers) and a zero-interest, affordable mortgage.   This hand-up model creates a foundation of financial stability that changes lives and makes our community a better place for all of us to call home.

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Our affiliate has been building new homes in Laramie County since 1991.  In 2020, we will build a home for our 50th partner family.  To date, 126 children have had the opportunity to grow up in safe, quality homes, owned by their families

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HABITAT REPAIRS

"I feel so much safer, you have made a big difference in my life."

-Habitat Repairs Client

Homeownership is vital to a community's economic health.  Laramie County has a relatively high percentage of owner-occupied units of housing, but many of these homeowners live on fixed incomes and can't afford the cost of home repair.  With deferred maintenance, even minor issues can become major problems. The home may become unsafe or uninhabitable and its value can decrease, affecting neighboring properties as well.    

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When homeowners can't keep up on the maintenance of their homes, it makes it harder to sell when they are ready.   Homeowners seeking affordable homes, won't be able to secure financing on a home in need of repair and our existing stock of affordable housing becomes even smaller. 

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Habitat Repairs was created to serve the needs of existing low-income homeowners.  What started as A Brush With Kindness, a program to do minor projects on the exterior of homes, now allows our affiliate to help homeowners with a variety of repairs.  Costs are kept at a minimum by using volunteers whenever possible and donated or discounted materials.  Homeowners pay for a portion of their repairs, and their payments are fully allocated to help other homeowners in need.

HOME REHABILITATION

"We understand that sometimes families need a different type of housing product than what we typically build"

-Habitat Executive Director, Kate Wright

The cost and scarcity of land is a problem that many Habitat Affiliates face, and Laramie County is no exception.  One way to work around this problem is to rehabilitate existing homes in established neighborhoods.  Cheyenne is an ideal place for this work with many homes in older neighborhoods in need of renovation.

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Additionally, Home Rehabilitation enables us to serve different types of families who may not need the space that comes with one of our typical new builds. 

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We have designated our inaugural Home Rehabilitation project as a Veteran's Build project.  The home will be completely renovated using volunteer labor and discounted or donated materials.  When complete, it will be home to a member of our Armed Services who wants to opportunity to own their own home. 

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