Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Home donated to housing group

ARCH seeks land for Elkhorn structure


By EXPRESS STAFF

Photo Courtesy ARCH Community Housing Trust ARCH Community Housing Trust Director of Homeownership Heather Johns shows enthusiasm over the recent donation of this Elkhorn home to her organization.

A Wood River Valley-based nonprofit is looking for a home for a house.

ARCH Community Housing Trust, a group whose mission is to ensure a diverse and livable community by providing affordable housing, announced last week that it had acquired a 1,800-square-foot home. It did not, however, also acquire land.

The Elkhorn home was built in the late 1980s, but its owner wants to rebuild. That person, who requested to remain anonymous, approached ARCH board Chairwoman Rebekah Helzel with the idea that the structure could be used to help with Blaine County's need for affordable housing.

Helzel said the donor told her the donation was a way to thank the community, which helps make the Wood River Valley a great place to live.

"ARCH has the creative capacity to engage our broad range of supporters to make this happen," Helzel said. "We are investigating several options, though we are concentrating on the north valley for a location suitable for emergency service personnel or other essential staff working for Ketchum or Sun Valley."

Helzel said the fire on Main Street in Ketchum last week was an unfortunate illustration of the need for firefighters and other essential service providers to live in the communities they serve.

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Just the same, ARCH does not plan to target emergency services workers. The home will be sold to a qualified buyer, regardless of their employment in the Wood River Valley.

ARCH Director of Homeownership Heather Johns is working with the organization's Home Creation Committee to find a suitable location. Johns will work with municipal building inspectors and volunteer architects and developers to prepare the house for the move from its current location.

"This will happen," she said. "We have a very motivated board of directors and exceptionally passionate stakeholders. It is becoming vividly apparent that affordable housing is the largest component to a successful and diverse community here in Blaine County."

ARCH recently sold its first affordable home in Hailey using a shared equity resale formula that benefits the owner should the home sell at some point down the road. An additional home is available for sale in the same location as the first shared-equity structure.

In addition to the aforementioned projects, ARCH also purchased the land to accommodate Blaine County's first Habitat for Humanity project in Bellevue.

ARCH is seeking assistance in securing a permanent home for its new home. For more information on how to help or support other ARCH efforts, call 726-4411 or visit www.archbc.org.




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