Kermode tapped to help with statewide housing issues

The state is noticing Gunnison County

by Mark Reaman

The executive director of the Gunnison Valley Regional Housing Authority (GVRHA) has been tapped to contribute to two state working groups dealing with Colorado’s affordable housing issues.

Jennifer Kermode was appointed in August to the Strategic Housing Working Group, which falls under the Department of Local Affairs. Of the 50 people who applied to sit on that committee, 11 were chosen. Governor Jared Polis also selected Kermode to be part of a new 10-person Special Eviction Prevention Task Force.

“I am honored to be selected as a participant in both of these groups,” Kermode said this week. “I hope to add to the discussion. Gunnison County is getting noticed at the state level in the housing world so I can bring that perspective. We are alive, vibrant and engaged and that is being noticed. The state is watching us and working with us on a number of fronts.”

The goal of the Strategic Housing Working Group is to develop strategies to elevate, act on and maintain momentum for the creation and preservation of statewide affordable housing. The state is compiling millions of dollars earmarked for affordable housing that will be spent on projects across the state. Starting in July 2021, the state is anticipating funding that pool of money with approximately $77 million annually for at least three years.

Kermode said she and former Crested Butte community development director Michael Yerman saw the opportunity in the state money and had planned to stay aware and be active with the process. With this appointment, Kermode said the Gunnison Valley is positioned to be aware of how the money would be spent and how to take part in the granting process, especially for projects that are close to shovel-ready. “Being a member of that board, I will have more of a heads-up about how the state wants to direct the funding,” she noted.

As for the governor’s appointment of her to the Special Eviction Prevention Task Force, Kermode says she has first-hand experience helping tenants and being a landlord since the GVRHA runs many deed-restricted units throughout the valley, including complexes such as Anthracite Place in Crested Butte.

“Anthracite Place was a little tight at the beginning of the pandemic,” Kermode said. “But now the complex is full, which, as a landlord, is a good thing. This task force is in the very early stages so we don’t know what will come out of it. I hope we end up with suggestions that help both landlords and tenants. We just can’t tell people they don’t have to pay the landlords. There is pain on both sides.”

Kermode said that locally the GVRHA is working with tenants who are having trouble making the rent. “We are trying to not evict anyone right now for nonpayment of rent,” she said. “We are working with them as much as possible while at the same time realizing we need income from the units.”

The executive order issued by Polis states, “The task force shall develop recommendations on how to address housing instability due to COVID-19 in Colorado and report these recommendations to the Governor.” Kermode said she did not apply to be on the task force but rather got the call to service from the governor. “That task force is made up of a wide variety of people with different housing experience,” she explained. “I’m humbled to have been asked and am excited about sharing ideas with this diverse group.”

The task force will begin meeting in September.