Our Company

Housing is a basic human need. Breathing clean air shouldn’t be a luxury. Saving energy is a necessity.

Unity Homes' production facility grounds in Columbia, MSIn today’s market, however, buying a home is often a challenge for low- to moderate- income families. With the current high cost of comprehensively green building materials, buying a healthy home isn’t even an option for many families.

Unity Homes, Inc. is dedicated to offer affordable housing providers and lower income individuals a healthy and green option at below market prices.

We will do this through:

The unity behind Unity Homes – affordable housing providers and financial institutions dedicated to serving low-income communities have partnered with us to make sure the communities most in need of housing will be able to afford a Unity Home.
Building a modular home factory with an unparalleled focus on efficient production, social mission and healthy homes to the benefit of our homeowners and partners.

Blending into the local vernacular will be easy since Unity Homes will be “conventional” in all other respects and installation on-site conforms to standard building codes and local practice.
Combining every aspect of Unity Homes’ sales, production and delivery system to create far more value, quality and accountability, at a lower price, than any other modular housing producer.
Redirecting excess income to higher wages or bonuses, higher-quality and/or healthier materials, and/or reduced home sale prices.

When fully operational, Unity Homes will manufacture and install the healthiest mass-produced, affordable housing in the United States. Our innovative methodology counteracts a number of negative conditions that traditionally plague low-income housing. Unhealthy and poorly-constructed homes, combined with unjust terms of financing, entrench cycles of sickness and poverty for many families. Unity Homes addresses these symptoms through an approach that builds homeowner equity, supports community health, and contributes to the long-term economic vitality of the region.

Our History

In the months following Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, motivated by the desire to become involved in the rebuilding efforts in the areas devastated by the hurricane, two members of the Healthy Building Network’s (HBN) developed the concept of the GreenRelief Project. The goal of the GreenRelief Project was to participate in the massive post-Katrina rebuilding process in a way that would facilitate the construction of greener and healthier homes for occupants and to accelerate the transition towards sustainability in the residential housing sector.

Paul Bogart (l) and Jim Vallette: HBN staff and founders of the Unity Homes concept

Watch Jim Vallette's speech at October 30, 2007 ground breaking

Providing such healthy homes to the Katrina victims became more essential when news of illnesses caused by materials used in FEMA trailers was made public.

The two HBN members saw the problems with the FEMA trailers as an opportunity to put the GreenRelief Project in action. HBN, therefore, began developing a model for manufacturing green and healthy modular homes to meet the region's housing needs. The first prototype home – the Unity Home – was installed in North Gulfport, MS in January 2007. Upon installation of the prototype, the house was donated to the North Gulfport Community Land Trust on January 27, 2007, at a ribbon cutting and open house ceremony held on the grounds of the prototype house.

With the ground breaking ceremony on October 30, 2007 for its new facility, Unity Homes, Inc. a non-profit corporation, becomes the first company to implement the HBN model in producing healthy, green modular "Unity Homes" for the Gulf coast housing market.

Corporate Overview

Unity Homes, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation, registered in the state of Mississippi on April 9, 2007, pursuant to the Mississippi Nonprofit Corporation Act.

Unity Homes, Inc. exists for the charitable purpose of promoting, manufacturing, and installing healthy, high-quality, energy-efficient and affordable modular homes, while stimulating local and regional economic growth through long-term job training and employment opportunities.

Nonprofit corporations are formed for the purpose of serving the public or for a purpose other than the pursuit or accumulation of profits. Any distribution of assets, income or profits must conform with the mission of the corporation.

However, because Unity Homes is not presently a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, the organization will not be exempt from paying income tax on any business income. Also, as a non-profit, income may not be distributed to Unity Homes’ officers, trustees, or other private persons, except for specific services rendered.

Governance

Unity Homes, Inc. is governed by a board of directors. The board is the corporation’s ultimate policy-making body, and will exercise all powers and authority granted to the corporation by law. The board directly supervises and holds accountable the corporation’s President/Chief Operating Officer, and oversees the corporation’s activities and operations.

The board may consist of no fewer than three (3) and no more than twenty (20) directors at any one time. Directors volunteer their services to Unity Homes, Inc. and will not be compensated for their time. The President and Chief Operating Officer of Unity Homes, Inc. is an ex officio voting member of the board of directors.

Directors will elect officers at the board’s Annual Meeting, including, but not limited to President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary. In addition, the board, if it chooses, may establish one or more standing or ad hoc committees for the purpose of carrying out the board’s duties.

Board of Directors

The board is the corporation’s ultimate policy-making body, and will exercise all powers and authority granted to the corporation by law. The board directly supervises and holds accountable the corporation’s President/Chief Operating Officer, and oversees the corporation’s activities and operations.

The following talented individuals with their wide-ranging experiences form the curent Unity Homes' Board of Directors. They bring a remarkable array of talents and have already demonstrated a tireless commitment to Unity Homes.

Kathy Curtis
President

Kathy Curtis has eighteen years of organizing experience in NY’s environmental health movement. A recent thirteen-year veteran of Citizens' Environmental Coalition (CEC), where she served as Executive Director for four years, Kathy is a widely recognized leader within New York’s environmental health community and nationally. She co-founded the State Alliance for Federal Reform of Chemical Policy (SAFER), and worked closely with the NYS Legislature and other elected officials, achieving numerous environmental health legislative successes. She co-leads the Coming Clean Collaborative’s Policy Workgroup, where she was among the early drafters of the Louisville Charter for Safer Chemicals (louisvillecharter.org). Prior to CEC, she was Outreach Director at Environmental Planning Lobby (now Environmental Advocates of NY). She lives in Rotterdam, NY where she serves on the Rotterdam Conservation Advisory Council, and recently achieved passage of a PBT-Free Purchasing Resolution. She has four children: Adam, Amber, Shannon and Vannessa and a step-daughter Rachel.

Phil Eide
Treasurer

Phil Eide is the Senior Vice President and Director of Housing Initiatives at the Enterprise Corporation of the Delta where he's responsible for the development and day-to-day management of the Mid South Home Ownership Program. Phil was a Housing and Urban Development fellow in the Mississippi HUD office before joining ECD. He previously served as Executive Director of Jackson Metro Housing Partnership, the largest nonprofit housing organization in the Jackson metropolitan area. He obtained an undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin, a master's degree from Jackson State University, and is presently a Ph.D. candidate at Jackson State.

Robert Adasiak
Secretary

Robert Adasiak, an accomplished and results-oriented senior executive with more than 30+ years of management experience in manufacturing, has opened numerous factories from Tennessee to California, including modular plants for All American Homes, a division of Coachmen Industries. Bob is a proven leader with a demonstrated background in managing multi-million dollar companies and divisions.

Jim Jackson
Ex-officio, non-voting member, UHI Chief Operating Officer

Our Staff

James A. Jackson
President and Chief Operating Officer

Jim JacksonStarting November 1, 2007, Jim Jackson joined the Unity Homes team as its first President and Chief Operating Officer. With more than three decades of sales, marketing, finance, facility management, purchasing and executive leadership experience in the modular housing industry, Jim Jackson is eminently qualified to lead the Unity Homes Inc. development team. Mr. Jackson has served in a variety of leadership positions with established and successful modular housing facilities throughout the United States.

A graduate of Ball State University with a degree in accounting, Mr. Jackson started his career with industry leader All American Homes where he began as finance manager for the Indiana Division of the firm, and quickly rose within the company to the positions of Division Controller, General Sales Manager and ultimately Vice President/General Manager.

As a successful manager of All American Homes’ Indiana Division, in 1994 Mr. Jackson was selected to lead the company’s Iowa division in Dyersville, Iowa. Mr. Jackson directed and supervised all aspects of the company and guided it into becoming an extremely efficient, quality producing and profitable manufacturing operation.

Following the successful work at the Iowa division and after returning to Indiana to lead the largest modular housing manufacturing operation in the country, Mr. Jackson’s talents were again tapped to complete the company’s start-up phase in Tennessee. Then again in 1997, he was requested to apply his industry knowledge and experience to construct and start-up another All American facility in Zanesville, Ohio.

In 1999, Mr. Jackson left All American Homes to become President and Chief Operating Officer of Pinnacle Building Systems in Bristol, Indiana. During his tenure with Pinnacle, Mr. Jackson was directly involved in implementing Just-In-Time processes with material vendors; detailed custom modular designing for homeowners; and, construction and product quality initiatives for the modular housing manufacturing process.

Unity Homes is fortunate to have in Mr. Jackson experience in the best practices within the entire scope of the modular home industry, vision to drive new innovations that can implement market changes, and the ability to maintain and improve product quality and overall company performance.

Contact Us

You can receive email announcements of organizational milestones, job openings and upcoming events by sending us an email requesting to be added to our mailing.

The Unity Homes, Inc. manufacturing facility broke ground in Columbia, MS on October 30, 2007 and will be opening its doors during the summer 2008. In the meantime, please contact our Gulfport office at:

Unity Homes, Inc.
261 Airport Road
PO Box 827
Columbia, Mississippi 39429
Telephone: 601-674-1037
info [at] unityhomes.net

Media questions may be directed to:
media [at] unityhomes.net

Employment related questions may be directed to:
employment [at] unityhomes.net