A Colorado-based, single- and multi-family modular housing builder is opening a new factory in southern Colorado with the help of the state’s Rural Jump-Start program of incentives, recently announcing plans to bring almost 100 jobs to Huerfano County.

Headquartered in Walsenburg, employee-owned Red Feather Industries manufactures wood-based modular housing off-site. In Walsenburg, the company plans to build single- and multi-family homes for people and families earning between 80% and 120% of the area median income, Gov. Jared Polis and the Business Funding and Incentives division of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade said in a news release last week.

The project will create 80 rural jobs, Polis added.

“Being accepted into Colorado’s Rural Jump-Start program is an exciting milestone for Red Feather Industries. This opportunity reinforces our commitment to creating innovative, high-quality and affordable housing solutions while investing in the economic future of rural Colorado,” the company said in a Thursday release. “We are proud to expand our operations, create meaningful jobs for worker-owners, develop strategic partnerships and help address the growing demand for attainable housing across the region. We appreciate OEDIT’s confidence in our vision and look forward to contributing to stronger, more resilient rural communities.”

The state’s collaborative Rural Jump-Start program is a tax credit and grant program first authorized in 2015. It incentivizes new businesses to start in or move to rural, economically challenged Colorado counties (referred to as Rural Jump-Start zones), hire new employees and export goods and services outside its rural zone.

Red Feather Industries will receive $15,000 in grant funding to support the launch of its operations and four years of tax benefits through the Rural Jump-Start program.

Eligible employees will also receive a state personal income tax credit while the company is in the program, the release said.

“Red Feather Industries is exactly the kind of homegrown business we want to see thriving in rural Colorado,” Polis said in a news release after a Friday visit with the company, when he toured its Chaffee unit. “This new Rural Jump-Start business is creating more than 80 new jobs, using an innovative approach to build more housing Coloradans can afford and giving company employees ownership opportunities.”

For more information about Colorado’s Rural Jump-Start program, contact Quina Weber-Shirk at quina.webershirk@state.co.us.