Letter from the Board President
July 1, 2011
During the past fiscal year Housing Resources has remained steady, offering its programs at a stable production rate. We feel fortunate to have accomplished the following, in the context of the continuing weak economy in our community, the state, and the nation.
• Through a concerted marketing effort and increased outreach activities, we made direct contact with approximately 3,390 people, updated our website, incorporated social media into our community awareness strategies, and were recognized through several articles in local newspapers.
• We successfully completed construction of our Community Center at Garden Village Apartments in December 2010, and held a well-attended open house. The Center is currently being used to provide space for our financial fitness classes, events for Garden Village residents, computer lab use by residents, and cooking and computer classes provided by Mesa Developmental Services. We continue to explore expanded use for the facility.
• In furtherance of our strategic goal to incorporate sustainability leadership throughout our programs, we adopted a policy to expand our internal recycling program and developed a checklist of sustainable standards for all of our rental units. We also completed energy efficiency improvements at two of our rental properties, resulting in reduced natural gas usage of 24% and reduced water usage of 11% at our Tiiffany property, and reduced natural gas usage at our Linden property of 27%.
• With the receipt of $2,566,153 in grant funds, 510 weatherization jobs were completed this past year. In addition, 530 energy audits were completed, an increase of 500% over the prior year. During our 21 years of providing weatherization services for Colorado's western slope, our clients have saved an estimated total of $12,596,540 in energy costs, which equates to about 68,858 metric tons of CO2. This program has also infused an estimated total of $18,435,221 into our local economy during the past 15 years.
• To enable more clients to own their own homes, we were successful in increasing our revolving pool of available down payment assistance funds by over 100%.
• We completed 9 homes and began construction on 13 homes in our Self Help Housing Program.
• During our last fiscal year, we estimate a total of $741,647 in local income was derived from our rehab and self help construction activities, and a total of 13 jobs retained in our community.
• We reached 102 people through our HUD-certified housing counseling program. Activities included pre-purchase counseling, homebuyer education seminars, down payment assistance, and credit counseling. In addition, we received $10,000 in grant funds to begin offering financial fitness classes.
In July, our Board met and established a strategic vision. With those overarching objectives in place, staff developed an Operational Plan for 2012 with the following goals: maintain current production levels, continue to expand Board governance, initiate in-house loan servicing of HRWC loans, continue to reduce our carbon footprint, slightly increase our multifamily rental portfolio, and prepare for the elimination of federal stimulus funds.
As we enter our 2011 fiscal year, we expect the demand for our services to remain steady. We believe we are well positioned--with strong financials, a dedicated and talented staff, both new and long-term partners, and a firm dedication to energy efficiency-- to weather the economic lull and continue to effect positive changes in our community.
We hope you enjoy reading about our organization in more detail in this Annual Report.
Sincerely,
Daniel Gartner, Board President
