Habitat for Humanity needs more investments and volunteer builders to increase affordable housing in Winona County
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WINONA, Minn. (WXOW) - People who need financial help to build a home through Habitat for Humanity are looking for affordable housing not a free handout. Habitat homeowners help with the work and they pay for the building, Winona-Fillmore Habitat for Humanity executive director Amanda Hedlund said. There is no free house with Habitat because this program is a hand-up not a handout.
Hedlund said housing is affordable when it costs less than 30 percent of a family s gross monthly income. When you don t have to make choices between eating and putting a roof over your family s head, Hedlund said. People who live here, many of them are cost burdened paying more than they can afford just to be close to employment options so it s hard on people who have such a shortage of choice.
By TJ
Jun 3, 2021 | 9:42 AM
The Winona area faces a serious affordable housing shortage and building sufficient numbers of homes to meet demand has been challenging without enough skilled workers to replace those who retire.
Winona County Profile data shows that the County needs hundreds more affordable owner-occupied housing units. The construction industry needs an influx of new professionals. Habitat for Humanity Winona-Fillmore Counties and Minnesota State College Southeast are teaming up to forge a solution.
The nonprofit and the college will collaborate on the construction of one new rural home per year for qualified Habitat for Humanity homebuyers, and the work will serve as the lab for MSC SoutheastConstruction Technology students. Using post-construction financing through the USDA 502 program, funds used to build the home will immediately be recycled into the program.
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Clear-eyed, confident and optimistic, Braxton Waller is ready for whatever the future brings as he graduates from Minnesota State College Southeast this spring.Â
Having completed an Associate of Applied Science degree in Information technology support âwith honors â heâs well prepared to find employment, continue his education, or embark on new adventures.
âLife is about the journey, not the destination. I donât know yet about the future â I have a lot of journey still left,â he said philosophically.Â
But his outlook wasnât always so bright. In fact, his first encounter with MSC Southeast was in an appeals meeting, where he had to convince the Student Affairs team that he was ready to succeed in college.Â