Homeowners can stay in the starter home for a maximum of 10 years, after which they must sell the home back to HFHNA for $100,000, Wolverton said.
The impetus to create the small homes came when HFHNA was priced out of building the one to two conventional homes HFHNA typically built each year. Even with “sweat equity” from the homeowner, volunteer workers, and rock-bottom prices from vendors, the cost of those homes was about $260,000, By comparison, the starter homes will cost about $100,000, not only because they are smaller but because HFHNA and Wespac can build them at scale.
In the next five years, HFHNA hopes to build at least 40 units on a three-acre section of the new Timber Sky development on West Route 66 between Flagstaff Ranch Road and Woody Mountain Road.
“It’s a game-changer for this town,” said Tyler Mark, Vice President/Principal at Wespac. “It’s going to have a lot of impact and it could be a nationwide model.”
In fact, Wolverton has discussed the starter home plan with the national leaders of Habitat for Humanity and hopes that it can be replicated. It also doesn’t have to be limited to city land trusts or private developers donating land, he added; school districts with property who want to retain or attract new teachers also might benefit from a starter home initiative.
Wespac – and most of the other private entities involved in the starter home project – have been eager to help get this initiative off the ground as part of their efforts to be good corporate citizens, Mark said. Wespac has been a supporter of Habitat for Humanity for more than a decade, with its charitable foundation, M3F, donating $260,000 over the past five years.
“We’re a part of this community and it’s important to give back,” he said. “I believe in the Habitat mission. It’s never been cheap to live in Flagstaff. Anything we can do to create stepping stones to homeownership, we want to do.”
We are optimistic that the starter home program will help make a dent in the scarcity of affordable workforce homes, and help employees who otherwise would be squeezed out of the marketplace.