Tag Archives: affordable housing

Phase 2 Homeowner Selection for Parkside at Benson & Brown Station

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Teton Habitat is excited to report that we have selected 6 families and 3 alternates for Phase 2 of the Parkside at Benson & Brown Station. 

The selection process for the second six homeowners for this project began by informing our “active” pool of applicants of the income verification document deadline. 33 applications were submitted by our deadline of June 28, 2023. All applications and income verification documents were reviewed by the Homeowner Services Manager and submitted to a sub-committee for review and approval. The subcommittee then recommended 12 applications for Homeowner Selection Committee review. 

Fourteen homeowner selection committee members participated in an anonymized round of selection. The selection criteria included need, ability to pay, and willingness to partner.  All selected applicants are required to do 500 hours of sweat equity, attend homebuyer education courses, and save for their closing costs.  Teton Habitat sells homes to selected applicants through a zero per cent interest, 30-year fixed mortgage. 

Chosen applicants from our community include:

  • A 20-year resident of Teton County, a single parent with 2 kids currently living in a 1 bedroom/ 1 bathroom rental with many issues. 
  • A 25-year resident of the Valley, a single parent with 4 kids currently living in a 2 bedroom/ 1 bathroom rental with threats of eviction. 
  • A 16-year off/on Teton County resident, a single parent who has moved nine times in the last year. 
  • A 22-year resident in Teton County, single parent of 1, whose lease ends in October. 
  • A 22-year Teton County resident, single parent of 3 whose lease ends in November.
  • A 22-year resident, single parent of 1 with rent continually increasing. 

Chosen applicants for Phase 2 of the Parkside at Benson & Brown Station have been notified of their selection. Some have already begun their sweat equity hours. The Teton Habitat staff, Board of Directors and Selection Committee Members are thrilled to bring truly affordable and safe housing to 6 more families in Teton County. 

Phase 3 homeowners will be selected early next year, which will complete this 18 unit, single-family housing neighborhood. 

Learn more about his project HERE. 

Learn how you can get involved HERE. 

Remember Teton Habitat During Old Bill’s 2023

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Remember Teton Habitat during Old Bill’s 2023. This year our goal is to raise $200,000 through Old Bill’s for affordable housing. 

“No matter what amount, it counts.” shared Teton Habitat Homeowner Michelle Knobe. Teton Habitat provides truly affordable housing to families making 30-80% of the area’s medium income. More than ⅓ of the people working in Teton County may qualify for a Teton Habitat home. Your donations to Teton Habitat directly support building affordable homes for the people who make our community special. We are currently building 18 units at Parkside at Benson-Brown Station and we are working on other multi-family units with the town and county. 

“When you donate, I don’t think you know what an impact you have on my life… cause it is a big one.” – Teton Habitat Homeowner

Old Bill’s Fun Run giving season is now open and runs through September 15th!

Donate to Teton Habitat Here. 

First Interstate Bank Donates $100,000 to Teton Habitat

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Release Date: Wednesday, July 6th, 2023

This donation is part of First Interstate Bank’s Believe in Local program which supports Teton Habitat’s Parkside at Benson-Brown Station project.

(Jackson, WY, July 5th) – Teton Habitat is proud to announce a $100,000 gift from First Interstate for our Parkside at Benson-Brown Station affordable housing project. This donation is a part of First Interstate Bank and the First Interstate BancSystem Foundation’s Believe in Local grant. First Interstate donated $25,000 as part of a $3-to-$1 funding match from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines for a total donation of $100,000 to Parkside.

“Teton Habitat can only build truly affordable homes in Teton County through generous support from our partners like First Interstate and FHLB Des Moines. With this significant donation, Teton Habitat has raised 1⁄3 of the Parkside fundraising goal,” said Kris Greenville, Executive Director of Teton Habitat.

Parkside at Benson-Brown Station is an 18-unit housing development being built in partnership with Teton County and the Jackson/Teton County Housing Department. Parkside will be completed in three phases, with six units in each phase. This project includes a mix of 2- and 3-bedroom units to better address the diverse needs of local families and individuals earning up to 80% Area Median Income (AMI).

“Giving back to the places we cll home is central to who we are as a community bank,” said Richard Uhl, First Interstate market president in Jackson. “Our Believe in Local grant campaign captures our core values in action and is the ideal way to celebrate the nonprofit organizations that deliver the greatest positive impact. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to further support Habitat for Humanity of the Greater Teton Area in their work to make our community a better place to live, work, and raise a family.”

 

About the ‘Believe in Local’ Campaign

First Interstate Bank launched the Believe in Local campaign in 2022 to celebrate the Bank’s longstanding commitment to the communities it serves. Each year, forty nonprofit organizations across the Bank’s 14-state footprint receive a $25,000 gift in support of their mission. Habitat for Humanity of the Greater Teton Area was nominated by local First Interstate employees and selected from a pool of over 500 submissions thanks to its alignment with the Bank’s philanthropic goals.

 

About Habitat for Humanity of the Greater Teton Area

Founded in 1995, Habitat for Humanity of the Greater Teton Area brings people together to build homes, community, and hope. Over the last 30 years, Teton Habitat has built 57 homes for individuals and families to address the housing crisis in the Teton County. Teton Habitat is the only housing organization in the County exclusively serving individuals and families earning up to 80% of AMI.

 

Positive Outcomes of Homeownership

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It is no surprise that homeownership leads to many positive outcomes, for individuals and families. But did you know that those positive outcomes benefit our collective economic stability, civic and social engagement, reduce our environmental footprint, and more?

Teton Habitat is excited to share the following research findings about the outcomes of homeownership from Habitat for Humanity International: 

Through a series of evidence briefs, Habitat is bringing to light research on the impact that affordable housing has on individuals and families at home and beyond. This brief provides an overview of how families can prosper with greater access to decent, affordable housing. Check out our highlights below and download the full brief.

Research highlights

Wealth and financial stability

  • U.S. homeowners have an average net wealth that is 400% higher than that of renters with similar demographics and earnings, and home equity represents the largest proportion of wealth (34.5%) for U.S. households.
  • Research has shown a correlation between homeownership and increased wealth, with each year of homeownership tending to be associated with an additional $9,500 in net wealth, on average.
  • In 2019, net wealth was lower for lower-income ($9,300), Black ($24,100) and Hispanic/Latinx households ($36,050) than for higher-income ($1,589,300) and white households ($189,100). Home equity represented a larger share of net wealth for low-income households and Black and Hispanic/Latinx households.​​

Civic and social engagement​​​​​

  • Homeowners are more likely to vote in local elections than renters in comparable neighborhoods, and this likelihood increases with the degree of neighborhood disadvantage in low-income urban areas.​​​​​​
  • Regardless of the length of time they have owned a home, homeowners are 1.3 times more likely to become involved in a neighborhood group and to join a civic association than renters. The increased participation in neighborhood groups holds true in low-income neighborhoods as well.

Environment​​​​​

  • For older single-family homes, weatherization reduces low-income households’ total energy costs by 12.4% within the first year. This is substantial given that low-income households have higher energy burdens, spending three times the share of their annual income (7.2%) on energy costs as compared with other households (2.3%).

Education

  • Children of low-income homeowners are 11% more likely to graduate from high school and are 4.5% more likely to complete post-secondary education than children of low-income renters.
  • Homeowners can leverage their housing wealth to finance post-secondary education for their children, especially lower- and moderate-income households. For lower- and moderate-income households, a $10,000 increase in housing wealth raises the probability of college attendance by 14%.

Health

  • Decreasing housing costs for cost-burdened households (those spending more than half of their household expenditures on housing) releases resources to spend on nutritious food and healthcare and limits overcrowding to minimize the spread of respiratory infectious diseases.

 

Would you like the opportunity to be a homeowner in the Greater Teton Area? Learn more here. Would you like to support the mission of Teton Habitat? Donate here. 

 

Article Source: https://www.habitat.org/our-work/impact/research-series-outcomes-associated-with-homeownership

Teton Habitat Director Speaks up For Affordable Housing

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Teton Habitat is exceptionally proud to have board members who stand up for affordable housing in our community. Recently, Board Member Christina Feuz told Teton County Commissioners to “stop asking whether or not Habitat for Humanity can perform. We’re tried and true,” regarding the scalability of building homes in Northern South Park. 

Find the full article, Can county guarantee affordable South Park homes? from Jackson Hole News & Guide HERE.