SELCO Community Credit Union Awards $200,000 Grant for Development of Affordable Homes

Posted by Alyse Knudsen on June 10, 2024

Image and video courtesy of SquareOne Villages

SquareOne Villages recently received a $200,000 grant from Springfield, Ore.-based SELCO Community Credit Union to aid in building the nonprofit’s Rosa Village Co-op affordable housing project. The grant, which was made possible in part because SELCO was awarded matching grant funds from The Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, is the largest single contribution to a nonprofit that SELCO has made in its nearly century-long history and the largest private donation to the Rosa Village project this year.

SELCO’s $200,000 grant also sparked $50,000 in separate funding that had already been pledged to SquareOne through a matching gift made at the bequest of Eugene resident and community leader Priscilla Gould, resulting in a combined contribution of $250,000.

The $200,000 grant is part of SELCO’s new SELCO Steps Up community giving program that aims to create positive, innovative, and lasting change through community giving, volunteerism, financial education, and student and educator support. One of the key goals for SELCO Steps Up is to evolve SELCO’s community-giving programs to meet the community’s changing needs, and few issues in Oregon are more prominent than homelessness.

“There has never been a more important time for organizations like SELCO to step up and support nonprofits such as SquareOne Villages, which is doing incredibly important work to address a critical issue facing all our communities,” said Bob Newcomb, SELCO’s President & CEO. “For SELCO, the return is two-fold. Not only does SELCO help SquareOne’s mission, but it gives our entire team an added sense of purpose knowing that we are all committed to the betterment of every community we serve.”

SquareOne Villages began in 2012 with the mission of creating self-managed communities of cost-effective tiny homes for people in need of housing. Its villages include Opportunity Village and Emerald Village in Eugene, Cottage Village in Cottage Grove, C Street Co-op in Springfield, Peace Village Co-op, and the new Rosa Village in Eugene.

SquareOne’s plans for Rosa Village call for 52 permanently affordable, deeply energy-efficient homes — 40 one-bedroom apartments and 12 two-bedroom townhomes — and a 1,600-square-foot common house with shared amenities. The site is spread across 2 acres and is part of a 3.3-acre property that was donated in 2020.

Construction of Rosa Village is scheduled to begin in 2025. Units will include metal roofs and eventually solar panels, highly insulated wall construction, elevated air tightness measures, fully insulated slab construction, heat pump water heaters, and mini-split heating and cooling. The energy-efficient design is intended to become a model for SquareOne’s future developments.

“We have seen time and again that the type of housing Rosa Village will provide is far more successful in creating long-term stability than traditional rental housing, and it’s far more attainable than a single-family home,” said Andy Heben, SquareOne’s Deputy Director. “And with Rosa Village’s net-zero energy-ready homes, the costs will be extremely affordable for its residents.”

The grant for Rosa Village was made possible after SELCO was awarded $150,000 in matching funds from the FHLB Des Moines Member Impact Fund. This fund provides $3 for every $1 of an eligible FHLB Des Moines member’s grant donation to strengthen the ability of nonprofits or government entities to serve the affordable housing or community development needs of their communities.

Posted in Community Impact, Oregon, Regional Member News, Top Headlines.