Community Homes of Patagonia, Inc.

A group of Patagonia residents founded Community Homes of Patagonia (CHOP) in 2006 in an effort to address the growing gap between local incomes and local cost of living. In particular, they intended to provide affordable home ownership opportunities to working families and individuals, so that the town’s teachers, nurses, and other essential workers would be able to reside in the town. The CLT is a grassroots community effort that quickly gained the support of the local town council. In 2014, they purchased their first property, and are working to construct affordable housing on this site. They were an entirely volunteer-based organization until they hired their first half-time staff member in July 2022. In addition to their homeownership program, CHOP runs a home repair program through which they assist low-income resident homeowners who cannot afford to make needed repairs that pose a risk to their health and safety. This program has helped 36 homeowners with needed repairs. While this program furthers CHOP’s goal of making homeownership more affordable, it also increases the visibility of the CLT in the Patagonia community.