The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Some places still available
by Mark Reaman
A grand opening of the soon-to-be-completed Anthracite Place affordable housing apartments will be held July 22. People will be able to start moving in shortly thereafter. The goal is to have the building filled by the middle of August.
Anthracite Place is located next to True Value and contains six two-bedroom apartments and 24 one-bedroom apartments. The project is geared toward local employees who make between 50 percent and 60 percent of the area median income (AMI) in Gunnison County, under $28,950. Rents will range between $650 and $920 a month depending on the unit.
According to Gunnison Valley Rural Housing Authority executive director Karl Fulmer, 14 full applications have been processed, five are still pending, and about 25 have not been fully completed by the applicants. “We anticipate being fully leased by mid-August. We are increasing our outreach to the current applicant pool to ensure that they complete their application process,” he said. “The GVRHA is not allowed to assist applicants in finalizing materials, however.”
Based on the application process, Fulmer said so far 12 people have been formally accepted into Anthracite Place. He anticipates six to eight additional acceptances in the near future.
Fulmer said the applicants have been primarily people living in Crested Butte. “Roughly 80 percent are from Crested Butte, 15 percent from Gunnison and 5 percent are from out of the county but who are relocating for a job opportunity,” said Fulmer. “We definitely had more people under 50 percent of AMI than the under-60 percent demographic.”
Fulmer said there have been some bumps with the overall project along the way but the authority feels it is on a smooth transition at this point. “It’s been a lot of learning for our property manager, but once we got our computer system into place and worked out a few of the bugs it seems to be going very smoothly now,” Fulmer said. “We would certainly do this again. This type of housing is needed in our valley and the GVRHA is happy to provide it! With all of the rules and regs, there has been a learning curve. The GVRHA is now fully prepared to entertain the construction of another LIHTC [Low Income Housing Tax Credits] property in the near future.”
Because it is a government project, applicants don’t need to meet local affordable housing requirements such as residency requirements. The apartments will be leased on a first-come, first-served basis for those who can fill out the application and fall into the income requirements. Fulmer sent out a request to those who started the process a while ago but haven’t completed the paperwork.
“If you were sent a letter with a request for supporting documents, please get it in to us quickly. The apartments are starting to lease up, and we would hate for anyone who started the process months ago and is still in need of affordable housing to miss out because they got their paperwork back to us too slowly,” Fulmer said.
The grand opening will take place Friday, July 22, and be attended by representatives from CHFA and the Front Range, lenders and local representatives from each government or entity that helped make Anthracite Place a reality.
