You might have heard that Carbon County Habitat for Humanity is closing. After careful deliberation (and building 9 houses and hosting 20 Rummage Sales!!), the Board of Directors decided to close the chapter in February and investigated ways to keep the assets: lots, materials, information, and cash in the County to ensure affordable housing in the future.
In dissolving the Chapter they had 3 options:
- Transfer all assets to the Billings Chapter.
- Transfer all assets to the Habitat National
- Transfer all assets to the Red Lodge Area Community Foundation,
They chose the third.
Why? The Foundation was the only entity that committed to keeping the assets in Carbon County. To ensure the assets and momentum keeps going in our community remain and to ensure that our friends, families, and community members have opportunities to decent, affordable permanent housing in the future. The Community Foundation doesn’t focus on affordable housing but does focus on two things: strengthening our community and acting as a stop-gap for vulnerable community assets.
What’s next? Funding has been secured for a part-time staff position, Kristen Hollum, to work with a newly organized steering committee to determine how to proceed with affordable housing and the assets. In addition to staffing, an AmeriCorps VISTA member, Bill Eickman, is working alongside the project to build capacity. The Foundation will continue to engage and inform the community as the effort progresses.
Bottom line: Habitat made the decision to keep all assets in our community rather than lose them. They chose to keep them local by utilizing the Red Lodge Area Community Foundation. If you donated to Carbon County Habitat for Humanity in the past to aid affordable housing efforts in our community, you can rest assured your gift will still do that!
We thank the Habitat board, volunteers, and donors for their years of service to the community and look forward to future of affordable housing!
Interested in the new direction? Contact Kristen at kristen@rlacf.org or call 446-2820.