UFCU Builds Affordability, One Home at a Time

For the second year in a row, UFCU and five additional Central Texas credit unions worked together through the Austin Chapter of Credit Unions to partner with Habitat for Humanity and build a home for a local family in need. For five months, the aspiring homeowner worked alongside hundreds of credit union volunteers and Habitat for Humanity construction experts to build her home, giving her the chance to truly have a hand in making a better future for herself and her children. The second “House That Credit Unions Built” is now complete, and Crystal and her family are enjoying their new home.

Homeownership is a fundamental hope for most of us, but in cities like Austin growth has put home prices out of reach for too many. At the board-sawing celebration—that’s Habitat for Humanity’s version of a ribbon-cutting ceremony where the new homeowner saws a board in half in front of their new threshold—Austin Habitat for Humanity CEO Phyllis Snodgrass quantified the challenge. The median price for a home in Austin is $550,000, she explained, a number out of reach of a family with median income in our area.

UFCU chose to support Habitat for Humanity in a home build again in 2021 because their model of community collaboration, combined with homeowner responsibility and empowerment, is making affordable homes a reality, one house at a time.

The celebration for Crystal and six other new Habitat for Humanity homeowners was covered by multiple local news networks. Bringing awareness to not only the challenge of affordable housing, but of the importance of different groups working together to find solutions is important to UFCU.

“Helping Members find their path to homeownership has always been part of how we help individuals,” said UFCU Executive Vice President of Community Impact, Communications, and Marketing Heather McKissick. “And we support opportunities for affordable housing as we believe that is a vital component to a financially healthy community.”

Learn how the experts at UFCU Mortgage Services can help you find the best mortgage for you.