On Thursday, June 12, Habitat for Humanity of Orange County broke ground on its next community in Hillsborough, Auman Village. Auman Village is a vision for a mixed-income neighborhood that fosters community, opportunity, and stability.

“It became so clear to me when I first started serving as a Town Board Member in 2013 how important Habitat is to the affordable housing availability and construction of affordable homeownership in Hillsborough,” said Jenn Weaver, former Hillsborough Mayor and current capital campaign committee co-chair for Auman Village. “I have seen families find stability, I have seen children find stability, and I have seen neighborhoods and communities be strengthened by the presence of Habitat in Hillsborough.”

Habitat purchased the 10.9-acre property off of Highway 70-A near downtown Hillsborough and the Orange County Sportsplex in December of 2020. This groundbreaking signifies the beginning of infrastructure, with vertical construction expected to start in 2027.

“Habitat has a solid track record of working in Hillsborough, building over 100 affordable homes in our community. Including on Odie Street in the Fairview community and the senior housing project Crescent Magnolia, which we completed and dedicated several years ago,” said Mayor Mark Bell. “The addition of Auman Village will significantly increase our housing supply and help more residents to be able to stay in Hillsborough.”

Various major funding sources have been contributed to get the infrastructure work started. The Town of Hillsborough unanimously voted earlier this month to commit $400,000 toward Auman Village over 4 years, the largest amount for a single project from the Town of Hillsborough for affordable housing. Additionally, Orange County has committed to $800,000 to Auman Village from its budgeted $15 million capital dollars for affordable housing. The State Employees’ Credit Union Foundation’s ‘Building Dreams Planting Seeds’ Housing Initiative will also contribute a $2 million zero-interest loan to assist with the cost of infrastructure.

“Community is a central and key part of our mission here at Habitat,” said Jennifer Player, President and CEO of Orange Habitat. “While we have steep challenges that are facing including rising costs, we know that those challenges are not insurmountable. We have people, we have community who are rallying around Auman Village and Habitat to make this project happen.”

Special shout out to our in-kind sponsors from this event, coffee from Joe Van Gogh, shuttle services from Hillsborough Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, and parking lot from PHE, Inc. 

Click here to watch the video recording of the program and click here to see the photos on social media of the event.