Well-built homes for hard working families is the goal of Community Resource Group. CRG builds homes that will appreciate and become a valuable asset to be passed on to the next generation. CRG works to achieve this through its CRG Homes division, which is in its third year of building affordable housing in Starr County, Texas – one of the poorest counties in the country. South Texas is hot and dry with daytime temperatures often soaring over 100°F, so deciding to build with ECO-BlockÒ was an easy decision. Combining the R-22 of the ECO-Block with low-E, double pane windows, insulated doors, and R-38 ceiling insulation results in a home with very high effective R values. In general, homes with higher effective R values are more energy efficient. The 4 inches of concrete provides the thermal mass necessary to stabilize the interior temperatures, and the solid wall prevents any dust from filtering into the house. Home buyers may not fully appreciate the thermal properties embodied in the ECO-Block design, but they do understand consistently lower utility bills, and they appreciate that “it’s so incredibly quiet inside” – even on a busy street. They tell their friends, and word-of-mouth sells homes. To date, CRG Homes has constructed 74 new homes, has 16 additional homes under construction and has 4 homes pending construction starts. More than 60 families’ dreams of home ownership have come true thanks to CRG’s innovative home building and lending programs.
ECO-Block has earned a reputation as a superior building product among high-end home builders. It is also the right product to help housing developers build high–quality, affordable housing for low-income families. Low-income families with the dream of owning their own home …. families like that of Juan and Emma de la Garza, who spent 12 years renting a home before purchasing their new energy-efficient home from CRG Homes. See their story at http://www.crg.org/!userfiles/Success%20Stories/CRGECOBlockStory.2008.pdf.
“Helping People Build a Future in their Own Hometown" … Community Resource Group, Inc., (CRG) a nonprofit organization headquartered in Fayetteville, Arkansas, serves seven states: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. They work to meet the changing needs of communities by applying creative solutions to long-term problems. CRG focuses on the needs of lower-income communities and families. The heart of the operation is “providing the basics” – water and wastewater technical assistance and support services; access to credit (lending); and housing.
Visit their website at http://www.crg.org/ for more information on all their programs.