Affordable Housing Project to Use Hemp-Based Materials

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-based Global Hemp Group Inc has acquired 664 acres of land in Hayden, Colorado to build affordable housing with hemp-based materials over the next 25 years. It is the third land purchase by the company this year, bringing its total to about 874 acres.

The project is called the Colorado Hemp Agro-Industrial Zone project.

The land will be used first to grow hemp before the housing project begins. The company will first showcase the hemp-material homes on a 44-acre site.

“This vertically integrated project contemplates the beneficial use of substantial existing water resources to irrigate and cultivate industrial hemp, process and utilize hemp in the on-site manufacturing of green renewable construction products and finally build affordable carbon neutral/carbon negative housing.”—Global Hemp Group in a press release

Town Manager Matt Mendisco told the Craig Daily Press that the project is part of the town’s “master plan” to attract businesses as it anticipates the closing of the Hayden Station by 2028 and the loss of tax revenue that will come with it.

“We are fortunate because our master plan is really, really clear about how that area is to develop,” Mendisco told the Daily Press. “We have provided documents to them, and they’re very aware of it.”

Mendicso added that the project also fits into the town’s tradition of agriculture.

“It is not farming wheat or raising cattle, but it is still agriculture,” Mendisco said in the report. “I think, done right and partnered with the community correctly, they could be very successful, and that could provide a lot of jobs.”