Trust for Community Housing: Awarding Grants That Ensure a Workforce!

12 Dec Trust for Community Housing: Awarding Grants That Ensure a Workforce!

The Trust for Community Housing (TCH) awards Housing Opportunity Fund Grants. TCH is currently engaged in its annual fundraising campaign, “Keep the Lights ON.” The organization relies on grassroots support. For more information, please contact: Amy Levek, Executive Director, 970/708-7678, amy@trustforcommunityhousing.org or Katherine Borsecnik, Board Chair, Katherine@trustforcommunityhousing.org

Imagine a town without locals, a place where no one lives? Would that be a real place? This is the future the Trust for Community Housing is working hard to avoid. TCH is the region’s only non-profit working strictly on increasing resources for affordable housing.

TCH is pleased to announce that it has awarded grants to 18 families and individuals so far this year, with several more to be given by year’s end.

Grants are awarded to qualified workers in the region to help them achieve housing stability. They are designed to enable recipients to stay in  Telluride, benefitting the family, their employer, and the local economy and community. Many of the recipients have been lottery winners of the Town of Telluride’s recent projects and have included on-call employees, artists, retail workers, small business owners, and library workers.

In our current economy, even “affordable” housing can be hard – or even impossible – for employees to afford, due to relatively modest, but still daunting down payments and closing costs. The Housing Opportunity Fund addresses that part of the housing puzzle by providing grants to help qualified locals get a roof over their head:

“I’m so moved by the stories of our recent grantees, what they’ve gone through to secure housing,” says Amy Levek, Executive Director, TCH. “And even more impressed by what most of them contribute to the community.”

TCH obtains references from grant applicants, as well as information about financial need and employment history.

“We are so excited to support these applicants, given how they benefit their employers and the organizations they volunteer for,” Levek added.

For instance, Lindsey MacIntire works at the Telluride Regional Medical Center, as well as the Battalion Chief Paramedic for the Telluride Fire Protection District. She qualified for a Silverjack condominium, but could not quite meet the closing costs:

“I just have to say the response from TCH brought me to tears. I am so grateful for the award towards my closing costs,” said MacIntire.

David Hallowell, another grantee and a familiar part of the Jagged Edge staff had grown increasingly discouraged about the prospect of buying a home in the region. But he “wanted the security of knowing I had a place to sleep.”

When the opportunity to buy came his way, Hallowell was prepared with savings and good credit, but it was a stretch: “Closing costs are expensive and I was definitely stretching,” he acknowledged.

A friend suggested TCH’s Housing Opportunity Fund and Hallowell received a grant.

“The grant means that people care about keeping our community together,” he said. “It’s awesome that the TCH board cares, that they value keeping people here.”

Jonathan Miller, Manager at Jagged Edge, agrees, adding: “Secure housing for employees is critical to our business.”

Other grantees work for construction companies, restaurants, lodging, and government, among other enterprises. They represent a cross-section of what it takes to keep the Telluride region economically viable and a functioning community.

Tiffany Bateman Osborne, a longtime employee at the Wilkinson Public Library, found a house to rent in Norwood, but needed a boost with moving costs. “The grant gave me the flexibility to provide for the kids and make other improvements in their rooms,” she said. “It gave me breathing room to make the place OUR home.”

She also feels that the TCH Housing Opportunity Fund “makes me more willing to do more to give back to the community.”

Sarah Landeryou, Director, Telluride’s Wilkinson Public Library agrees:

“It’s a struggle in this market for employees without an abundance of resources to secure stable housing, so thank you for the opportunity to grow a local workforce that can contribute to our vitality. It is great that our employees have access to the Trust for Community Housing. I wish we could do more!”

TCH, more:

The Trust for Community Housing (TCH) was established as a grass-roots nonprofit (501-c-3) organization to make sure the Telluride community remains strong and vital by increasing the resources available for affordable housing.

TCH is the Telluride region’s only non-profit dedicated specifically to housing. It  is supported by a broad spectrum of full and part-time residents who treasure what makes our shared home unique.

TCH’s mission is to preserve our community through increasing regional housing opportunities. Through collaboration with others, the non-profit Trust expands resources available for housing, helping to secure a diverse and vital community. TCH welcomes your support.

For more, please visit TCH’s website: www.trustforcommunityhousing.org