Habitat RFV President Gail Schwartz Ready to Pass the Baton

It’s been perhaps the busiest five years in the history of the local Habitat for Humanity organization, full of challenges, innovations, adaptations and unique opportunities to address the region’s housing crisis.

Several projects are on track, including groundbreaking in the new year for a new, 66,000-square-foot modular construction plant in Rifle, conversion of 88 Glenwood Springs apartments into homes for purchase by qualified buyers, and 12 new condos at The Confluence property in Glenwood.

At the same time, a major champion for those and many other recent endeavors, Habitat Roaring Fork Valley President and Chief Executive Officer Gail Schwartz, is preparing her exit plan.

“It’s a big job, and it’s getting bigger,” Schwartz said ahead of her pending retirement in the spring.

“I really felt that as an organization we needed to bring in new leadership … And it’s just time to have more flexibility in my life,” said the longtime affordable housing and community planning advocate of more than 50 years, mostly in Pitkin County.