The Chaffee Housing Authority celebrated the completion of phase One of the Jane’s Place Project. Jane’s Place is the innovative affordable housing project near downtown Salida honoring the late Jane Whitmer. Key donors and supporters of the project attended the celebration hosted at the Jane’s Place building site on the corner of W 3rd Street and HWY 291, Salida. The program highlighted the importance of local community investment in completing phase one of the project and setting the 2nd phase up for success.  Speakers included Keith Baker, Chaffee County Commissioner,  Dan Shore, City of Salida Mayor, Joseph Tiepel, Buena Vista Planning Director and Chaffee Housing Authority Vice Chair, and Miki Hodge, close friend and colleague to the late Jane Whitmer.

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True to its namesake, the Jane’s Place Project is one of a kind. Jane is remembered as a convener, someone who lifted up those around her and was dedicated to her community and neighbors. “She was a real life Hero,” remembers Miki Hodge, friend and colleague of Jane Whitmer, “She believed that keeping families intact was paramount during turmoil, financial crisis, unsheltered times, unforeseen circumstances and adversity.”  When completed, Jane’s Place will bring 17 housing units to the Salida community, designed to serve immediate local needs. Seasonal employees, new recruits to the workforce, families and individuals in crisis, and Americorps volunteers will be directly served through Jane's Place. The project will also include a nonprofit incubator and social enterprise coffee shop.

 

“This is no traditional housing development. It was specifically designed by locals to meet local solutions and it leverages a variety of funding sources to ensure we can use the space how our community needs it most” shared Chaffee Housing Authority Board Chair, Craig Neilson, “From single family units, to seasonal housing, to space for our unsheltered neighbors - Jane’s Place is as much of a trailblazer in the housing solutions space as Jane was during her lifetime.”

 

By the completion of phase 1, Chaffee Housing Authority with the support of the community donors will have invested approximately $609,075 in the Jane's Place Project. This important first step was funded primarily by individual donors and local grants and resulted in the completion of the site development including constructing the retaining wall and installing all the underground infrastructure from the street to the building footprints, in preparation for the vertical improvements. The local community investment has set the project up for a successful phase 2, allowing the Chaffee Housing Authority to leverage grant funding and financing to cover the approximate $5,300,000 needed for the construction of the buildings. The last stage of the project is estimated to cost $500,000 and will include the furnishings, furniture, equipment and landscaping.

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Jane’s Place was developed as a partnership between the Chaffee County Community Foundation, the CHA, and supporters and friends of Jane Whitmer. Individuals seeking to contribute to the project can make a tax deductible donation at www.chaffeecommunity.org/janesplace.