To continue their efforts to offer affordable housing options to the community’s workforce, such as teachers, healthcare workers, first responders and city and county employees, Step Up Bisbee/Naco (SUBN) has been busy over the past year. They built and sold two homes through the Workforce Housing Initiative (WHI), a partnership between SUBN and the City of Bisbee and an LLC that gives city employees an opportunity to buy a newly renovated or constructed house at a reduced rate of up to 20 percent off the market value.

In addition, they completed repairs on 23 homes for low-income residents. “Through contracts with SEAGO and Cochise County, we performed $15,000 worth of home repairs for seven homeowners and an additional $14,200 in repairs for one more homeowner,” said Danielle Bouchever, current co-chair of Step Up Bisbee/Naco and on the board since 2015. “We’ve also installed numerous mini-split heat pump systems to improve energy efficiency and comfort.”

Currently, SUBN is building a recycled home made with Eterna Block or Rastra, a recycled, insulated concrete form product, in the Saginaw neighborhood. The organization has been focusing its efforts in that area for the past couple of years to offer community-based…..read full story (online subscribers only)