Crooked Forest Institute is looking for land. This newer non-profit based in Silver City is on a mission to create affordable housing using sustainable, local materials, like compressed earth blocks. The key to affordability, they say, is the vocational education and community building program attached to their housing development plan.
"Student and volunteer labor can lower the labor cost of each build," Says Holly Noonan, the non-profit's founder. "Our main role model is Community Rebuilds in Moab, Utah. After ten years in operation, Community Rebuilds is now clocking 30,000 hours in volunteer labor annually, while they are completing sixteen houses a year."
Another key to Community Rebuild's affordable housing plan is building housing on community-owned land. Their homes are built on a 40-acre Community Land Trust in Moab, which means the new homeowners don't have to buy land, their mortgages are only for their homes, making it more affordable. Each homeowner does pay a "modest land use fee" (about $100 a month) for a 99 year lease on the parcel of land that their home sits on. This fee helps fund the operations for the community land trust.
"It's not a new way to create affordable housing, it's just new for Silver City," said Noonan.
Crooked Forest Institute is a member of the Grounded Solutions Network, which promotes housing solutions that will stay affordable for generations to combat systemic inequity.
Before Crooked Forest Institute can fulfill its mission to create healthy, affordable housing for Grant County, it needs a home of its own. It has funds to buy a parcel of land and the six-person board of directors has been actively searching for land to house their operations.
They are looking for 20 to 60 acres of unrestricted land outside city limits, with a reliable water supply and a preference for bordering protected land. The intention for this land, they say, is to create their education campus, to build prototype housing for students and faculty out of compressed earth blocks that they manufacture themselves.
Their intention is to become a non-profit housing developer here in Grant County. Their houses will be small starter homes, 400 square feet, but designed to add onto as each family can afford it, so as not to rely only on debt. Each build will have a sweat-equity component so the owners can help build it and keep the debt load as low as possible. And if other community members want to lend a hand and learn how to build, the program will be set up for that.
Also, building out of compressed earth blocks means the small homes are designed to last for centuries, unlike manufactured housing, which often wears out before the mortgage is paid off. Compressed Earth Blocks are carbon-negative, fire-proof, mold-proof and chemical free, making them one of the healthiest and most sustainable building materials available.
Crooked Forest Institute will be at this year's Give Grandly event on Saturday May 4th, from 9am to 2pm at the Main Street Plaza in Silver City. Community members that would like to reach out to Crooked Forest Institute may do so through their website at https://crookedforestinstitute.org/