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Guest Column: Revolutionary building and affordable housing solutions mark Habitat RFV’s 25th year

Gail Schwartz
Habitat for Humanity Roaring Fork Valley
Gail Schwarz

Our New Modular Housing Production and Education Center will commence in 2024

Perhaps you noticed that housing in Garfield County made national news yet again in May. Comparing cost, competition, scarcity and economic stability, NBC reported how “homebuying has gone off the rails”. Ranked against historically popular coastal communities and one in Alaska, Garfield County earned the troublesome distinction as the top spot in the NBC News’ Home Buyer Index—the most difficult in the nation.

For Habitat for Humanity of the Roaring Fork Valley, this is a call to action. We ask the entire community to learn about our proposed solution and provide its support. The problem is only getting bigger, so the solutions must be larger still. As we celebrate our 25th anniversary this year we are even more dedicated to our mission to build affordable workforce housing at scale. That’s why I am emboldened and encouraged by our innovative solutions and new partnerships that will make Habitat’s goals a reality in 2024 and beyond.

Habitat is creating a transformational approach to the future of homebuilding in our region, as conventional onsite construction for workforce housing is no longer affordable or sustainable. We intend to build high-quality homes that are less costly, greener, and faster to construct at our new Modular Housing Production and Education Center in Rifle. With this facility, our yearly construction volume of net-zero-ready homes will multiply by a factor of more than five. Additionally, this facility will train students in an advanced manufacturing curriculum that will boost economic vitality and quality jobs in the Colorado River Valley. Our annual production goal is 200 net-zero units and the training of 100 students per year, who will work alongside Habitat’s operational team of 27 new full-time employees.  



Modular construction industry techniques and materials have evolved and advanced, and so have the homes that result from Habitat For Humanity RFV’s offsite construction building method. You can see evidence of the high quality we guarantee in our Wapiti Commons, and national award-winning Basalt Vista neighborhoods. Most importantly, they will become the forever homes of hundreds of deserving workforce families over the coming years and decades.

It takes partnerships for Habitat RFV to accomplish these audacious goals. At the Rifle facility, we will be partnering with workforce training educators including the EPIC program of Colorado River BOCES and CMC. With hands-on training, education, and construction certification, graduates will be primed for careers in a wide array of construction and advanced manufacturing techniques in our communities.



We are so grateful to our many local donors, and to the Western Colorado Community Foundation and Colorado’s Boettcher Foundation, who all share in Habitat’s vision and its potential. As the Colorado River Valley economy has historically relied on oil and gas extraction, this operation has been designed to diversify our workforce and build capacity for our regional economy and its workforce in the careers of tomorrow. The fact is, this is a community-wide issue. We need everyone to help us build homes with our workforce.

Concurrently, Habitat RFV is wrapping up construction of its Wapiti Commons neighborhood of 20 net-zero homes in Rifle; preparing for groundbreaking at The Confluence in Glenwood Springs this fall;  planning for a new neighborhood in a partnership with the Town of  Basalt; and pursuing our first apartment building conversion to condos in Glenwood Springs. Affordable housing solutions must be more innovative and collaborative than ever before to tackle the serious crisis in our region!

If you think you may be a candidate for a Habitat home and are interested in affordable homeownership in Rifle or Glenwood Springs, we are actively seeking new applicants. We urge you to check out the possibilities on our website and apply today at http://www.HabitatRoaringFork.org.

As always, we are extremely grateful for the community’s support in the form of time, monetary donations, gifts of land and other partnership opportunities. Please join us in our inspiring and transformational work as we prepare to meet the challenges of the next quarter-century.

Gail Schwartz is the President of Habitat for Humanity of the Roaring Fork Valley. As a former Colorado State Senator, business owner and community planner, she has a unique understanding of the affordable housing crisis on the Western Slope and in the greater Roaring Fork Valley and is committed to being part of the solution.


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