The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Packaging the county projects under one application for significant state funding
By Mark Reaman
The Valley Housing Fund wants to pull together elected officials from throughout the county to collaborate on how best to go after millions of dollars in state money being set aside for affordable housing.
Executive director Darin Higgins and VHF board chairman Jim Starr reported to the Crested Butte Town Council on November 18 they hope to get state officials to the valley early next year to participate in a forum for local officials to ask questions and understand how the money will be distributed.
“We hope to bring in the key people from the state and have them tell us how it would work,” said Starr. “We want to be together so we all hear the same information. Given county commissioner John Messner’s role in helping to get the legislation passed, we think the valley has a very good chance at obtaining funds from that pool of money. There will be a huge infusion of money from the state directed at affordable housing over the three years. We want to send the state a countywide package for them to consider.”
“Our idea is to come to the state as a county with three years of projects detailed in one request,” explained Higgins.
Higgins said it is anticipated that funding will range from about $20 million the first year to $114 million in year three, for a total of hundreds of millions of dollars on the table.
“That is a good idea and, while it sounds like a lot of money from the state, everyone in Colorado will be looking to get a piece of it,” said mayor Jim Schmidt.
“The goal is to maximize the benefit,” said Higgins. “The more we can package the whole county, the better.”
“A team effort is attractive to the state,” said councilman Chris Haver.
Starr and Higgins also went over the changing role of the VHF, which used to be known as the Gunnison Valley Housing Foundation. Starr said the group is committed to develop affordable, accessible and energy-efficient housing in the valley. The board hopes to accomplish that by providing grants to government entities, providing loans to private developers of workforce housing and banking land in the county. “We are also considering some developments ourselves,” he said.
The ultimate goal according to Starr is to develop 400 new units by 2024. That will be funded in large part when the Long Lake Land Exchange Project is completed, which is expected soon. That deal will fund the VHF coffers to the tune of about $2.5 million.
“We’re not widely known but we are doing good things with housing,” said Starr.
Higgins said that the lack of affordable housing is a nationwide and statewide issue, as well as a local problem. “A recent study shows that Gunnison County is one of the least affordable counties if you are trying to rent a place,” said Higgins. “You need to make 160 percent of the median income in the county to afford the median rent. That is in part because our wages are lower than in places like Aspen and Vail.”
Higgins disagrees with those who say the valley needs to be careful of over-saturating the affordable housing market in the valley. “We are so far away from a ‘saturate the market’ problem,” he said. “We’re in a deep hole.”
Higgins said the VHF planned to help update the county’s Needs Assessment Survey to pin down the current need for types of housing throughout the valley in 2020.
