Traditional Building Techniques Offer Innovative Solution to Taos’ Housing Crisis | LOR Foundation
In-Progress Housing

Traditional Building Techniques Offer Innovative Solution to Taos’ Housing Crisis

  • Local Champion: A Taos local
  • Date Funded: June 21, 2024
  • Grant Amount: $28,160

Like many towns in the United States, Taos is facing an affordable housing crisis caused by factors like rising materials costs, gentrification, and stagnant wages. To help solve this increasingly urgent problem, the Community Alliance for Sustainable Adobes (CASA) team reached out with an innovative solution rooted in Taos’ unique cultural heritage: conduct in-person workshops and create instructional videos that teach the traditional adobe building techniques of Northern New Mexico.

Adobe has a long and proven history as an environmentally friendly, structurally sound, and low-cost housing material. The hands-on training experiences provided by CASA will help proliferate this building technology—which has the potential to address both the housing crisis and climate change—while empowering residents to preserve their homes and providing the next generation with valuable vocational skills.

LOR’s support funded a director, a master enjarradora (a professional Adobe plasterer), and the filming, editing, and production of four instructional videos, as well as related social media content for widespread distribution.

This project is fiscally sponsored by True Kids 1. 

Contact our community officer in Taos. Meet Sonya Struck
More Housing Solutions
Housing / Taos Emergency Hotel Vouchers Keep Taos Families Out of the Cold
Local Champion:
DreamTree Project, Inc.
Date funded:
November 14, 2024
Grant Amount:
$20,000
Housing / Cortez A Recovery Home Creates A Safe Space for Cortez Residents
Local Champion:
Silver Linings Recovery Homes
Date funded:
November 13, 2024
Grant Amount:
$30,000
Housing / Libby Trained Volunteers Help Libby Residents Navigate Housing Insecurity
Local Champion:
South Lincoln County Housing Solutions
Date funded:
October 15, 2024
Grant Amount:
$802
Housing / Cortez A Home Maintenance Program Keeps Cortez Seniors in Their Homes
Local Champion:
Montezuma County Department of Social Services
Date funded:
September 23, 2024
Grant Amount:
$25,000
Housing / Lander A Little Utility Assistance Helps Keep Lander Families in Their Homes
Local Champion:
First Stop Help Center
Date funded:
September 9, 2024
Grant Amount:
$25,000
Housing / Cortez Local Art Curbs Graffiti and Beautifies Cortez Neighborhoods
Local Champion:
A Cortez local
Date funded:
August 27, 2024
Grant Amount:
$2,250

Share a Solution

If you have an idea for improving quality of life in Cortez or Monte Vista, Colorado; Lander, Wyoming; Libby, Montana; Questa or Taos, New Mexico; or Weiser, Idaho, use this form to start a conversation with us.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.