HomeNewsroomSocial responsibilityInnovative Partnership Between Habitat Affiliate, Clayton Expands Attainable Housing Options

Innovative Partnership Between Habitat Affiliate, Clayton Expands Attainable Housing Options

September 5, 20254 min read

As a leading single-family home builder, Clayton sees the need for more affordable housing options that can be both efficient to build and scalable in every corner of the country. Our CrossMod® homes can help increase available housing inventory, while also offering innovative designs, energy-efficient features and appraisals on par with site-built homes.

It requires collaboration to accomplish Clayton’s purpose to open doors to a better life through attainable homeownership, and working with local developers and nonprofit partners provides exciting opportunities for attainable housing.

When Habitat for Humanity of the Greater La Crosse Region in Wisconsin was looking for a way to reduce their increasing home building costs and help people move into their homes more quickly, they chose to work with Clayton. Habitat of La Crosse also knew the energy-efficient features and sustainable building practices behind Clayton’s homes could open up more funding, because in some cases that funding may be tied to specific home features.

Founded in 1992, Habitat of La Crosse has built or rehabilitated more than 70 homes in the La Crosse region.

“Our mission is to bring people together to provide and preserve attainable housing opportunities and create communities where all feel they belong,” said Kayha Fox, executive director of the nonprofit affiliate, which serves four counties in Wisconsin and one in Minnesota.

A Need in the Community

Last year, Hillsboro awarded Habitat of La Crosse a proposal for 10 attainable housing units. The city already had the lots for the homes, located in an existing site-built neighborhood called Tinkers Bluff.

Kahya has been the executive director of Habitat of La Crosse for over 20 years and has a background in housing and community development programs, so she has a firsthand understanding of the need for more attainable housing solutions. Her advocacy was key to helping the community understand more about the homes, helping combat some outdated perceptions about both Habitat for Humanity homeowners and manufactured housing.

“Rural Wisconsin families are struggling to find housing, and too many families are spending more than they can afford on rent or homes that no longer meet safety standards,” she said. “By using off-site built homes, we can efficiently deliver quality, energy-efficient homes into communities where building resources and contractors are limited. This gives more hard working families the opportunity at homeownership.”

Once the city approved their proposal, Habitat of La Crosse worked with the Clayton Home Building Group® to become a licensed manufactured home developer to make the process even more efficient. And using their network of site contractors, homeowners and volunteers, Habitat is able to bring the community together to deliver more attainable housing.

Kahya noted that this project has been a huge zoning win for the affiliate, and a true community effort. Habitat of La Crosse has also seen a variety of funding from city, state and federal sources.

(Attendees at the Habitat of La Crosse ribbon-cutting event on June 30 throw seeds to mark the completion of four new homes.)

Innovative, Energy-Efficient Homes

For this project, Habitat of La Crosse has purchased CrossMod® homes. This type of modern manufactured home combines the efficiency of off-site built construction with traditional site-built aesthetics like a porch and garage that are designed to blend seamlessly into existing neighborhoods. These will also be the first Clayton CrossMod® homes built on permanent basements, which is a HUD building requirement due to the frost zone in Wisconsin.

The homes also include a series of energy-efficient features, including low-E windows, smart thermostats and LED lighting. Additionally, they feature solar roof panels with battery backup power systems. These features are estimated to save homeowners in Hillsboro over $1,860 on average annually¹, which increases the long-term attainability of the homes.

Looking to the Future

On July 30, Habitat of La Crosse held a ribbon-cutting event attended by local leaders and national housing experts to mark the completion of the first four homes. Three Habitat homeowners have also been chosen, and their homes will be constructed later this year. As part of Habitat’s homeownership program, they will be required to put in a certain number of hours of “sweat equity” on their homes alongside volunteers from the community. The features of CrossMod® homes, which include porches and garages as well as the basements, provide opportunities for this, said Kahya.

Delivering attainable housing nationwide requires innovative partnerships that can be replicated throughout the country, and Kahya and Habitat of La Crosse have shown how a partnership between a home builder and a nonprofit can be highly successful.

Kayha is a believer in the benefits that CrossMod® homes have to offer both homeowners and communities. She is now sharing information about the project and process with other Habitat affiliates and housing partners across the country.

At Clayton, we’re working every day to find ways to make the dream attainable homeownership possible for more people across the country. And through innovative approaches like this, we’re able to expand access to housing options and build key relationships in communities.

Learn more about Clayton's key initiatives, partnerships, and milestones on our Newsroom.

¹Energy savings are based on electrical and gas energy consumption using NREL® BEopt™ to estimate annual energy consumption of a home built to DOE Zero Energy Ready Home™ guidelines compared to the same home built only to industry and HUD standards in Hillsboro, Wisconsin.