Habitat RFV President Gail Schwartz ready to pass the baton

It’s been perhaps the busiest five years in the history of the local Habitat for Humanity organization, full of challenges, innovations, adaptations, and unique opportunities to address the region’s housing crisis.

Several projects are on track, including groundbreaking in the new year for a 66,000-square-foot modular construction plant in Rifle, conversion of 88 Glenwood Springs apartments into homes for purchase by qualified buyers, and 12 new condos at The Confluence property in Glenwood.

At the same time, a major champion for those and many other recent endeavors, Habitat Roaring Fork Valley President and Chief Executive Officer Gail Schwartz, is preparing her exit plan.

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“It’s a big job, and it’s getting bigger,” Schwartz said ahead of her pending retirement in the spring. 

“I really felt that as an organization, we needed to bring in new leadership … And it’s just time to have more flexibility in my life,” said the longtime affordable housing and community planning advocate of more than 50 years, mostly in Pitkin County. 

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She also served eight years in the Colorado Senate, six years as a University of Colorado Regent, and three years on the Colorado Commission on Higher Education.

She is now looking forward to spending more time with her grandchildren (She recently welcomed her fifth). She’s also prepared to help smooth the transition at Habitat RFV as the board of directors search for a new CEO. 

“The board is looking for someone who can take the reins from Gail and continue to articulate and drive Habitat’s compelling vision,” said Chairperson Danielle Howard. “Our new CEO will need to inspire and engage our committed employees, passionate volunteers, and professional stakeholders as we continue to innovate and fulfill Habitat’s mission.

Schwartz also intends to continue in a consultant role on the modular production plant project and the L3 condominium conversion in Glenwood.

“Being more or less the face of these projects, I want to assure our partners that there will be some continuity,” she said.

Tumult and triumphs

Schwartz joined Habitat RFV’s board of directors in the fall of 2019 and was soon appointed chair. A few months later, former longtime Habitat President Scott Gilbert stepped down, and she became interim president before officially taking on the position.

It was around that same time that COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic and Habitat, like other businesses, was suddenly in scramble mode to maintain operations.

“We shut down the ReStore and our building site, and we had to come up with some new, creative ways of staying in business,” she said.

Construction eventually resumed on the Basalt Vista affordable housing project that was underway at the time but without the usual volunteer labor that Habitat typically relies on for several months.

The ReStore adapted by switching to an online shopping format during that time. In fact, it still exists today as an alternative to visiting the 40,000-square-foot warehouse store between Glenwood Springs and Carbondale in person. 

“We have 10,000 items online, updated every 15 minutes. It’s a really sophisticated concept that worked, so we stuck with it,” Schwartz said. 

She noted that, from its humble beginnings in the nearby rented space, the local ReStore has remained the envy of other Habitat ReStores because of the caliber of its second-hand donations.

In the years since the pandemic, she — along with Executive Director Kristen Wilmes and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Bower — worked to bring the 20-home Wapiti Commons project online in Rifle; gathered support for the $17.5 million modular home plant to be built there; created a 1% voluntary broker contribution program to support housing efforts; promoted private giving where donors could take advantage of Colorado enterprise zone incentives; and pushed for Habitat to buy the L3 Apartments at Glenwood Meadows for $34 million.

Schwartz is especially proud of the modular plant project and is invested in ensuring its success.

Once built, the plant is expected to produce 200 housing units per year that can then be assembled on designated affordable housing sites throughout the region. It would employ 64 permanent workers and also serve as a construction trades training facility for 100 students each year.

“We’re not only building affordable houses; we’re building a workforce,” she said.

One major piece of the puzzle that she will be working on in the interim is to raise another $3 million in funding to provide 18 months worth of working capital to get the plant up and running.

“After that, it’s in the black, and it’s a very solid business plan,” she said.

Howard said Schwartz has had a significant impact on the local Habitat organization since assuming her leadership role.

“Her visionary approach has been instrumental in tackling the pressing issue of affordable housing in the region,” she said.

Looking back, moving forward

Schwartz said one of the aspects of Habitat RFV’s model that she’s most proud of is its use of efficient construction methods and energy efficient design. Take Wapiti Commons, for instance.

“Those are some of the biggest buildings we’ve built,” she said of the four, three-story townhome buildings with five units each. “We incorporated panelized systems and really looked at the whole engineering around cost-effective building.”

That ultimately sparked the idea for Habitat to build its own manufacturing plant to cut costs even further, she said.

The push to build net-zero homes was also something she had championed going back to her days chairing the state’s Senate Energy Committee.

“It’s absolutely critical that we build homes in this way. It’s good for the planet, but maybe more importantly, it really does provide affordable living when your utility bills (heating and electricity) are only $14 a month,” she said in reference to the case at Basalt Vista when those units first came on line.

That same sustainability ethic guides the ReStore and will do so at the modular plant, as well, she said.

It’s part of what the Habitat board will be looking for in Schwartz’s successor, Howard said.

“Our expectation in the search is to find the person with the expertise and passion to quickly get their plane off the ground as Gail lands hers,” she said.

This story was originally published in the Sopris Sun.