By March 19, 2021 Community
Verity Credit Union, Harborstone Credit Union and Credit Union Home Mortgage Solutions (CUHMS) donated $72,000 to Habitat for Humanity, with Habitat Seattle/King County and Habitat Tacoma/Pierce County each receiving $36,000. CUHMS is a Credit Union Service Organization co-owned by Verity and Harborstone Credit Union; they handle the funding, closing and servicing of home loans for both credit unions.
“These donations represent our commitment to donate $100 for every mortgage loan funded in 2020,” said Brian Pouch, President of CUHMS. “We are thrilled to be making a much larger donation this year, thanks to the mortgage refinance boom brought on by low interest rates.”
In Seattle/King County, the donation will be used toward the 57 different builds currently underway throughout the King County area. “We have ambitious goals to try and meet the housing need in King County,” said Brett D’Antonio, CEO of King County Habitat. “We now have 200 houses in the pipeline, with 57 different construction projects going on right now.”
For Tacoma/Pierce County, the funds will be used to fund new home construction for low-income Pierce County households. According to Tacoma Habitat CEO Maureen Fife, “We are finishing up an 11-home neighborhood in Midland and have two new developments underway - one in the Fernhill neighborhood of Tacoma and the other in Gig Harbor. We have a long pipeline of interested homeowners because the need is so great. Partnerships like this one help us continue to build, as well as expand into new program areas like critical home repair for seniors and HUD-certified housing counselling.”
Habitat’s overall work is designed to help Habitat homeowners achieve the strength, stability and self-reliance they need to build better futures for themselves and their families.
Verity CEO John Zmolek and Harborstone CEO Phil Jones thanked both CUHMS and Habitat for Humanity for the work they are doing to serve the community and create affordable housing.
“Credit Unions are based on the concept of people helping people, and providing affordable housing is vital to our communities,” said Zmolek.
“We appreciate partnering with nonprofits like Habitat for Humanity who are making such a significant impact in so many people’s lives,” added Jones.
In past years, the CUHMS team joined Habitat for a day of volunteer work by helping to remodel one of the Habitat stores. Employees of both credit unions look forward to participating in a Habitat build once COVID restrictions are eased.