Affordable housing is hard to find.  The Crooked Forest Institute, a local 501(c)3, is focused on becoming a Community Housing Development Organization in order to build multiple affordable housing neighborhoods on shared-equity land like a Community Land Trust.

The Western Institute for Lifelong Learning (WILL) invites you to a Lunch and Learn community education program to be presented by Crooked Forest Institute, on July 10, 2024. The presenters will be Holly Noonan and Joseph Kennedy, both board members of Crooked Forest Institute. The title of their presentation is “The Crooked Forest Project; Disability-Forward Design and Elder Housing in Grant County.”

Noonan says that the Institute has found land locally that they are hoping will become the location of their education campus. The institute, she added, will first establish an adobe brick production facility there and will use the construction of the first neighborhood on their land to train the tradespeople who will later build dwellings on the Community Land Trust. Their intention is to request a special workforce housing ordinance that would allow them to build ten 400 square foot homes at RV park infrastructure on a Community Land Trust.

The institute hopes to inspire local stakeholders to join in establishing a separate 501(c)3 Community Land Trust entity and build it into a membership organization that can receive land donations and bequests for the benefit of the community. Community Land Trusts have become important components of affordable housing developments all over the country because they have found a way to make housing perpetually affordable, by relying on deed-restricted housing sales. Homeowners can buy homes that are much more affordable than market rate homes, and they accrue equity, but when they sell, they agree to sell to another low-income family.

Noonan, who has a master’s degree in social work, experienced homelessness as a result of multiple chemical sensitivities. “That’s why our housing designs are non-toxic. They are built of adobe bricks or compressed earth blocks because everyone’s health benefits from having fewer chemicals in their indoor environment. They will also feature ramps and handles for residents to age comfortably in place.”

The presentation will be held in the ABC room of the Besse-Forward Global Resource Center on the WNMU campus from 12:00 through 1:30. It’s free to the public and membership in WILL is not required to attend. The Global Resource Center is located at the corner of 12th and Kentucky streets.

https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-releases/84943-the-crooked-forest-institute-besse-forward-global-resources-center

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-c8hjs-164e96b

Couldn’t make it to the Crooked Forest Workshop at the Tranquil Buzz on Friday, June 21st? Here’s the recording of the Regenerative Rural Resilience: Leveraging Community Power for Economic Transformation workshop so you can take it with you. This workshop focuses on the Economic aspects of the Crooked Forest vision.

In this workshop, Joe Kennedy and Holly Noonan engage the audience to discuss the Problem we are solving for, the Process we should use to solve for it, the Solutions that are already working around the world and the Partners that Crooked Forest would like to work with or is already working with. Join us!

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-kztks-164e77a

Join the Co-hosts Susan GoLightly and Renee Provencio of “Gender Trouble,” a program on Gila Mimbres Community Radio, as they interview Holly Noonan and Jade Sawyer of Crooked Forest Institute. Join us as we explore the questions of “What exactly is Environmental Illness?” and  “Why are women disproportionately affected by it?” and “How is the Crooked Forest Institute working on housing options for this demographic?” Also, how can the extreme experiences of the environmental refugees who become hypersensitive to the chemicals in modern society be a harbinger that can keep all the rest of society safer and healthier?

Join us tomorrow at the Tranquil Buzz from 12 to 2pm for our workshop entitled:
Regenerative Rural Resilience: Leveraging Community Power for Transformational Change.

We’ll be focusing on the economic aspects of our Mission, including prioritizing the Wellbeing Economy , and how we can use the Community Land Trust that we are starting to help catalyze local Affordable Housing neighborhoods. Join us!

Upcoming Events Summer 2024

June 21st— 12 noon to 2pm—At The Tranquil Buzz in Silver City, NM— 300 N. Arizona Street, Silver City, NM —Regenerative Rural Resilience: Leveraging Community Power for Transformational Change. July 10th— 12 noon to 1:15pm —Western Institute for Lifelong Learning— WNMU Besse-Forward Global Resource Center ABC Room (at the corner of 12th and Kentucky) — The Crooked Forest Project, Disablility-Forward Design and Elder Housing. August 4th— 10am — at the UU Fellowship Hall at 3845 N. Swan St. in Silver City— The Crooked Forest Project and the 5 Program Priorities; Non-Toxic Living, Local Economy, Adobe Construction, Shared-Equity Land Ownership and Ecological Restoration. August 14th— 6pm to 8pm— at The Silco Theater 311 N Bullard St, Silver City, NM—A Screening of A Decent Home— a documentary about social and economic inequities in the United States focusing on mobile home parks, the injustices faced by park residents today, and one shared-equity solution. Followed by a Q & A.

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-z56n5-16369e8

Bob Estrin is an architect, builder, teacher and life long student. In 2020, he founded the School of Constructive Arts (SCA), a laboratory for the experimental study of holistic, healthy, and affordable methods of building and living in dry lands environments. SCA seeks to integrate ancient approaches with modern technology to derive new models for the current ecological, social, and housing crises. The son of a builder, Bob worked in conventional construction in Florida before moving to New York to study architecture at the Cooper Union. His thesis research on ancient uses of natural energy and natural materials led him to travel to North Africa.

Join us for this wide ranging conversation that touches on deep human history, what it means to be “regenerative” and how to understand the causes and potential solutions to the current housing crisis in America.

We hope to see you at the live event this coming Saturday at the Maker’s Market off Bullard Street in downtown Silver City between 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. on Saturday May 4th.

This extraordinary event will be hosting 65 local nonprofits who are all offering some kind of fun activity for kids and adults. It’s a festival of fun and giving! 🎉

Stop by our booth across from Adobe Springs Cafe to catch up with us about the latest developments. We will have non-toxic Play-Doh for building colorful Adobe tiny houses!

This is the 11th year the Grant County Community Foundation has organized this event to benefit the community. It represents the largest giving day in all of southern New Mexico.

And while the live event offers an opportunity for community residents to meet and get to know all of the nonprofits that are investing in our community, online giving is already live! The platform receives donations for all these nonprofits from April 20th to May 20th. When we hit $500, that unlocks a matching $500!

Go to our Give Grandly page here to donate to Crooked Forest Institute! Thank you so much for your support.

And stay tuned! Crooked Forest Institute is about to launch a capital campaign to raise money so that we can acquire a specific 28 acre property to become our Affordable Housing Education Campus.

Give a little, give a lot, give local, give Grandly!

See you Saturday!

Holly

Did you know you could already volunteer with us? Our Board of Directors needs help on many different projects. For example, we are preparing to participate in Silver City’s Give Grandly event on May 4th, 2023. We need help with set up, our activity for kids (building play-doh houses!) and fundraising.

We are hard at work behind the scenes looking for land, planning CEB production and designing a cabin for one of our community’s most sensitive team member.

We can always use help on communications, social media, podcasting and marketing.

Doing the “visioning” is quite a process, from researching land use and zoning regulations, to community education around safe housing and shared-equity models of affordable housing development, there’s a lot to participate in.

There is even a way for the very-sensitive population to contribute from home! We will be launching a “power of 8” zoom group that uses the focused power of intention. We have so many people rooting for our success in developing this new model of safe housing development, we just want to thank you for the love and support.

Go to our Volunteer Page to look at the options for how to join a team.

And if you’re local, don’t forget to stop by our table at the Give Grandly Event on May 4th from 9am to 2pm and say hello!

All the best to you and Happy Spring!

Crooked Forest Institute is looking for land. This newer non-profit based in Silver City is on a mission to create affordable housing using sustainable, local materials, like compressed earth blocks. The key to affordability, they say, is the vocational education and community building program attached to their housing development plan.

“Student and volunteer labor can lower the labor cost of each build,” Says Holly Noonan, the non-profit’s founder. “Our main role model is Community Rebuilds in Moab, Utah. After ten years in operation, Community Rebuilds is now clocking 30,000 hours in volunteer labor annually, while they are completing sixteen houses a year.”

Another key to Community Rebuild’s affordable housing plan is building housing on community-owned land. Their homes are built on a 40-acre Community Land Trust in Moab, which means the new homeowners don’t have to buy land, their mortgages are only for their homes, making it more affordable. Each homeowner does pay a “modest land use fee” (about $100 a month) for a 99 year lease on the parcel of land that their home sits on. This fee helps fund the operations for the community land trust.

“It’s not a new way to create affordable housing, it’s just new for Silver City,” said Noonan.

Crooked Forest Institute is a member of the Grounded Solutions Network, which promotes housing solutions that will stay affordable for generations to combat systemic inequity.

Before Crooked Forest Institute can fulfill its mission to create healthy, affordable housing for Grant County, it needs a home of its own. It has funds to buy a parcel of land and the six-person board of directors has been actively searching for land to house their operations.

They are looking for 20 to 60 acres of unrestricted land outside city limits, with a reliable water supply and a preference for bordering protected land. The intention for this land, they say, is to create their education campus, to build prototype housing for students and faculty out of compressed earth blocks that they manufacture themselves.

Their intention is to become a non-profit housing developer here in Grant County. Their houses will be small starter homes, 400 square feet, but designed to add onto as each family can afford it, so as not to rely only on debt. Each build will have a sweat-equity component so the owners can help build it and keep the debt load as low as possible. And if other community members want to lend a hand and learn how to build, the program will be set up for that.

Also, building out of compressed earth blocks means the small homes are designed to last for centuries, unlike manufactured housing, which often wears out before the mortgage is paid off. Compressed Earth Blocks are carbon-negative, fire-proof, mold-proof and chemical free, making them one of the healthiest and most sustainable building materials available.

Crooked Forest Institute will be at this year’s Give Grandly event on Saturday May 4th, from 9am to 2pm at the Main Street Plaza in Silver City. Community members that would like to reach out to Crooked Forest Institute may do so through their website at https://crookedforestinstitute.org/

See article on the Grant County Beat.

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-3gqwv-1597d1f

Larry Roybal is a master adobe builder who has built and renovated more than 20 adobe homes in Silver City/Grant County since the early 1970s, when he moved down here from Northern New Mexico. Originally from Corrales, he built his first home there out of “terrones,” a sort of “living adobe brick” used by the Isleta Indians. Join us as Larry regales us with dozens of capitivating stories, like building an adobe in front of the HUD building in Washington DC, visiting the Ignacio de Roybal House, an adobe that was built in 1705 by his ancestor, building the pagoda in Silver City’s Gough Park, and looking back on the turbulent history of New Mexico through the unique lens of an artist with both Spanish and Indigenous ancestry.

SPECIAL BONUS: Don’t miss this online photo album featuring four of the houses that Larry Roybal built and one that he renovated.

Nora Ureste is a Building Biologist who, together with her husband, Chris, is creating a small retreat center outside of Austin, Texas that can host people who are chemically and environmentally sensitive. The project, called Flourish Here, is working towards completing the first of 6 hempcrete homes and will feature a 5 bedroom retreat house, a comprehensive water catchment system and wellness amenities that include a tadelakt sauna. I visited her project in December 2023 on the Rolemodel Roadtrip and am looking forward to following along in the development process.

Listen to the episode here.

https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/the-lower-sioux-in-minnesota-need-homes-so-theyre-building-them-from-hemp

https://buildingbiologyinstitute.org/

Healthy Buildings For Sustainable Living