DES MOINES, Iowa — HL2:
HL3:
After more than 40 years of helping people in need get access to a roof over their heads, Home, Inc. Executive Director Pam Carmichael is retiring.
Home, Inc. is a nonprofit that creates housing opportunities and stability for people who need housing.
Carmichael, who is retiring after 41 years of service to the company, has helped initiate and overseen certain programs to create affordable housing for hundreds of people in Des Moines.
The majority of the people who benefit from the programs are either low-income, people of color, single parents or immigrants.
Carmichael was drawn into this line of work partly because of her upbringing.
"I grew up, we were not unlike some of our clients and I really felt it was important that people have a place that's stable, and stable to live," she said.
To make sure the clients that came through Home, Inc. were stable when they rented or got a house through the nonprofit, they had to be educated on and counseled about the best practices to keep them in a home.
"That to me is the legacy that she's left this agency, is to ensure these families are supported not only before they become our partner but after they become our partner," Kris Saddoris, a president on Home Inc.'s board, said.
One person Local 5 spoke with said it's sad to know Carmichael is retiring, but she thanked her and the Home, Inc. program for getting her into a house.
Because of the education and counseling she went through with Homes Inc., she and her family have been in their home for five years.
Saddoris also noted Carmichael was good at her job because she understood what it meant to serve their clients since she lived in the same neighborhoods as some of them.
"What she's done for the community is kept the need for affordable housing and housing counseling services front and center," Stephanie Murphy, the executive director for Neighborhood Finance Corporation, said.
Carmichael's last month at Home, Inc. is September. Once retirement starts, she plans to do nothing for a year but said she will miss Home, Inc.
Tony Montgomery has been named the next executive director of Home, Inc.
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