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Affordable Housing Offered To Teachers Also Economical To Live In

BASALT, Colo. (CBS4)- Affordable housing currently under construction in the Roaring Fork Valley could be a model for future emergency efficient projects across the state. That model is said to make utility bills lower for homeowners and better for the environment.

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The Habitat for Humanity Basalt Vista Project is bringing together an entire community in order to offer dependence from the electrical grid by installing solar and batteries at each home.

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"It is the next generation of smart house, like a NEST that creates smart home heating and cooling., but with Net Zero (creating as much energy as it uses) there are only negligible utility bills," Habitat for Humanity Roaring Fork President Scott Gilbert said.

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The plan means these homes are offered to local teachers and other workers first. The homes are not only affordable to buy, but very affordable to live in.

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The Basalt Vista development has been years in the making. The project also brought together unlikely allies. The Roaring Fork School District supplied the land and Pitkin County came up with some of the construction funding.

The first units are scheduled to be complete by June 1.

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