Organizations putting people before profits help fill in housing gaps
By Tim Rowland
At the end of the day when they would leave their jobs at Saranac Lake’s Trudeau Institute, Carrie and William White dragged their feet at the thought of going home to their small apartment. Any offer of going out or stopping at a friend’s instead was readily accepted.
They had good jobs with solid pay, but nothing like they needed to afford a home in the Lake Placid area, and the apartment was a constant reminder that the dream of homeownership was out of reach.
“We had a feeling that we were just going to be stuck renting for life,” William said.
And then they got the call. Homestead Development, a Lake Placid nonprofit, was on the line telling them their application for a townhouse had been accepted. They were going to be part of the new Fawn Valley development on Wesvalley Road .
One of the first families to move in, today nothing can keep them from charging straight home after work.
“We had gotten a little bit down, but then we kind of just accepted that maybe (homeownership) is just not for us,” Carrie said. “And then when we got the news, we just looked at each other like, ‘This is really happening for us.’ And so now we can’t wait to come home.”
In the Adirondacks, the Whites’ story is becoming increasingly typical. Middle-class housing is by necessity sidestepping the traditional vectors of real estate listings and homebuilders, which have become the domain of pricey vacation homes and the short-term rental market.
Read the full article in the Adirondack Explorer.