In Arizona, eviction filings hit a record high in 2024 – 106,587 court filings, a 43% increase in a single year. In Colorado, 86% of residents describe housing as an extremely serious problem. Across Nebraska, rents have grown 29% since 2019, pushing many families out of their communities, and Utah faces a shortage of 44,100 affordable homes.
Mercy Housing Mountain Plains has worked here for decades – building communities tailored to specific cultural needs, pioneering transit-centered development, and demonstrating what preservation-first housing looks like in practice.
In Colorado and Arizona, full-time Health Navigators bring health education and primary care access to residents across multiple communities. In Colorado, the program serves families and adults as well as seniors. Across the region, residents can build credit by paying rent on time.
Across every community, food pantries provide nutritious, culturally relevant food – guaranteed regardless of policy changes.
In Denver, Cranes Landing is the region’s first affordable housing site focused on serving Native American and Alaska Native populations – shaped by focus groups with 150 tribal members, with exterior patterns inspired by Navajo rugs and co-located with a Federally Qualified Health Center, in partnership with Denver Indian Health and Family Services.
At The Rose on Colfax, Mercy Housing Mountain Plains partners with Mile High United Way to address community needs around accessible, affordable childcare, with an Early Childhood Education Center that has capacity for 48 infants and toddlers.
Adding new affordable homes is needed. So is maintaining existing homes to prolong their affordability and keep communities thriving. In 2024, Timbercreek in Omaha underwent an extensive renovation, bringing it from 1974 into 2024.
Endowment funds preservation: keeping aging properties in service rather than selling them, so long-term residents are not displaced.
In Nebraska, a minimum-wage worker would need to work 62 hours a week to afford a two-bedroom market-rate apartment, and the state faces a shortage of more than 38,000 affordable homes. Mercy Housing Mountain Plains has answered with culturally specific design, on-site health navigators, and a commitment to preserving the homes it already has. Here’s what an endowment keeps in place.
Across Colorado and Arizona, full-time Health Navigators bring health education and care access directly to residents. The endowment protects roles like this one – funded by grants today, guaranteed tomorrow.
Shaped by focus groups with 150 tribal members, Cranes Landing is the region’s first affordable housing site built specifically for Native American and Alaska Native residents. The endowment funds the next community Mercy Housing designs with its residents, not just for them.
In 2024, Timbercreek in Omaha underwent an extensive renovation, bringing it from 1974 into 2024. When a building ages, Mercy Housing chooses preservation over displacement. The endowment is what makes the harder, better option possible every time.
The Mercy Builds endowment
The Mercy Builds endowment is built gift by gift – each one a permanent part of the foundation. Arrange a conversation with the philanthropy team to find your role.
