A single mother struggling to make ends meet and navigating the challenges of raising her son now has homeownership within her reach. Her story of hope helped mark the start of a project brimming with optimism: Hope Springs. Greeley-Weld Habitat for Humanity, in partnership with the city of Greeley, hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday for Habitat for Humanity’s largest community in Colorado.
The Hope Springs project aims to provide affordable and sustainable housing solutions for local families amid a longstanding housing crisis with escalating home prices across the state and nation. When home prices increase by $1,000, more than 150,000 American families are displaced, said Zach Mannheimer, founder and chairman of Alquist 3D — a 3D printing construction company and a key partner in the project. For decades, the system of owning a home has been broken, Mannheimer said.
Habitat for Humanity has become one of the only organizations working toward a solution, fueling his desire to form a partnership and contribute to Hope Springs. Private sectors, nonprofits, educational partners and federal, state and local governments came together to start construction on the 42-acre community with 491 affordable housing units, the miracle called Hope Springs, Greeley-Weld Habitat for Humanity CEO Cheri Witt-Brown said Thursday. As an innovative, climate-friendly and water-wise community, Hope Springs has also become a blueprint that hundreds of other communities across the coun.