The escalating cost of land is forcing Habitat for Humanity to build multifamily housing rather than the single-family homes it traditionally builds.
Habitat is building multifamily housing in cities and rural areas throughout the state, said Stefka Fanchi, executive director of Habitat for Humanity Colorado.
“We’re seeing it even more in some of the rural areas and particularly in resort areas,” Fanchi said. “Land prices are so steep, and the need is so great. We’re building about 120 homes every year, but that’s just a drop in the bucket.”
Candace Mayo, executive director of Habitat’s Fort Collins chapter, recalls paying about $35,000 for a single-family lot in 2001. Today, the same lot would cost at least $68,000, she said.
“It’s difficult for us to find a single-family lot that is affordable in Fort Collins,” Mayo said. “The only way we can afford to build now is higher density. The cost to build on a square-footage basis is the same, but you save on the ground underneath it.”
That gives single mothers like Gay Koopman and Audrey Hilgenberg a better chance of buying a Habitat home.
When Koopman and her daughter Audra relocated from Seattle five years ago, she didn’t realize how expensive housing in Fort Collins is.
“I’m self-employed, and it takes a little while to get clientele,” said Koopman, who is a massage therapist. “The first couple of years were pretty tight. I don’t think I would have been able to buy a house.”
Hilgenberg, a medical receptionist, said it will be the first time her three children each have had their own rooms.
“This experience has been overwhelming,” she said. “Helping build from a hole in the ground to a finished home and knowing every nook and cranny of my house has been an experience that’s going to last a lifetime.”
The Flatirons Habitat for Humanity of Boulder recently completed Emerald Hill, a 14-unit complex of duplexes at 120th and Nickel. The chapter had to establish a homeowners association for the community.
Residents paid $100,000 to $115,000 for their condos plus about $120 a month for the HOA.
Greenwood Village-based Hammersmith Management Inc. is helping Habitat establish an HOA model that will allow Emerald Hill residents to self-govern and manage their community in an effective manner.
“They’re teaching them about insurance, maintenance and landscaping,” said Jeff Arnold, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Community Associations Institute. “They’re also getting pro bono legal services.”
The multifamily model also means Habitat must design the project before selecting the family that will live there. In the past, the family was selected first, then the home was designed to its specifications.
“We don’t have the luxury of that anymore,” said Susi Brunkhardt, director of finance for the Flatirons chapter. “We have to design buildings and then go find the families. Habitat is very strict in the amount of bedrooms and family size.”
A single mother with a son and daughter must have three bedrooms, while a single parent with two daughters can have two, for example. The organization does not permit more than two children in a bedroom.
Staff writer Margaret Jackson can be reached at 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com.
