Housing on the Move!!

Thupten Kunga, a Tibetan emigrant, came to the United States in 1993, where he settled in Utah. After working tirelessly to earn money to bring his wife Phurbu Dolma and their seven children to the United States, they finally arrived in 1998, where they live in a tight knit Salt Lake Tibetan community. Like most Americans, they dreamed of moving out of their small two-bedroom rented house. Their dream was abruptly disrupted when Phurbu was severely injured in an automobile accident that left her unable to walk or work at either of the two jobs she had before she was injured. In addition, their small rental house had narrow hallways, a small bathroom and was not wheelchair accessible for Phurbu. The local Utah Tibet Support Group was aware of the plight of the Kunga family and contacted the law firm of Parsons, Behle and Latimer to assist the family. The lawyers were able to have Phurbu's medical expenses forgiven, and they donated their fees to a fund to help the family purchase a home.

The attorneys referred the Kunga family to the Community Development Corporation of Utah (CDC), a nonprofit organization that specializes in getting families into homes. The CDC used the Affordability Project to help the family qualify to purchase a home. The Affordability Project was made possible when the CDC of Utah received a Rural Housing and Economic Development Innovations Project Grant for $395,000 from HUD. A warehouse was purchased with the grant money and donations of materials for construction have been coming in since the opening of the warehouse last year. The Affordability Project uses a comprehensive set of strategies to reduce costs in all phases of home construction.

The University of Utah Graduate School of Architecture Design Built Studio designed the home and provided most of the labor for construction, which was a great cost savings for the family. A unique feature of the home is a portion of the house will be built with straw bale and earthen plaster along with corrugated metal and fiberglass roofing in order to achieve the best of both worlds: low cost, low maintenance, super insulation and recycled aesthetics. The first floor will be completely wheelchair accessible. The stairway is designed to facilitate a stair glide to the second floor. The home will also reflect Tibetan religious architectural design by incorporating a shrine space. The Salt Lake City Corporation will provide a low-interest home mortgage for the family.

A house raising celebration was held on June 21st to recognize all the community partners that came together to build an affordable home for the Kunga family.

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