Affordable housing (and lack thereof) on locals’ minds

The elephant in the Zoom

[ By Kendra Walker ]

While not an official agenda item for Monday’s town council meeting, the topic of housing in Crested Butte was a prominent theme throughout the evening. Recent community discussions on Facebook have focused on a lack of housing options in Crested Butte, with families desperate for a place to live, long-time locals being forced out of their rentals as they get bought up, and even Gunnison housing pricing people out. Social media and around-town discussions implied there would be a big turnout for the May 17 council meeting to discuss the issue, and 75 members of the public tuned in via Zoom. Whether to hear what council had to say about affordable housing, the RV Dump, parking, development in the Slate River, or a little bit of everything, several community members spoke out about the need and urgency for more affordable housing in Crested Butte.

“On housing, the town has put together a lot of public housing over the years, but there’s not enough. None of the ski areas have enough,” said mayor Jim Schmidt. “Everybody on the council is well aware.”

He noted there is a public meeting scheduled for the second week of June focused on housing that will be held at the Center for the Arts, in partnership with the Gunnison Valley Regional Housing Authority. Staff is still finalizing the date and time and plans to communicate the details once finalized.

The Mt. Crested Butte council also addressed affordable housing at the end of their meeting on Tuesday, May 18. Council member Roman Kolodziej said, “It’s pretty tight out there, there’s a lot of people having trouble finding a place. We’ve made good progress, Homestead for example, but I just wanted to throw it out there to see when we can start the next step to a next project.”

“I agree with you,” said Mt. Crested Butte town manager Isa Reeb. She explained that regional housing partners are currently discussing the issue and that she’s planning to align the development of Mt. Crested Butte’s Master Plan with the town of Crested Butte’s Community Compass. “We’re having intense staff discussions about that to make sure we’re getting all our ducks in a row first,” she said, explaining that the towns want to work together to support and prioritize each other’s projects coming down the pipeline over the next few years. “Absolutely it’s on our radar.”

“It’s not just about finding the money to build affordable housing,” said councilmember Lauren Koelliker, noting that there’s no cap on short-term rental (STR) licenses, and properties are being bought up for short-term rentals that could otherwise be used as long-term rentals.

Reeb noted that Mt. CB staff has been preparing a STR rules and regulations discussion for an upcoming council meeting.
Butte Bagels owners Cole Thomas and Eric Rankin voiced their concerns during public comment at Crested Butte’s meeting on Monday night. “There is a housing crisis going on right now. We are having trouble finding employees as business owners. We see every single day on Facebook people getting pushed out of their homes. We’ve got to come up with a solution,” said Thomas.
Rankin said they are speaking with other community members in town and they are proposing that every business closes the week of July 4 in protest. “To set the tone of what it’s going to look like in a few years,” said Rankin. “We’ll be at the next few meetings talking about these issues. There’s a good chance on July 4 no one will be open.”

Thomas and Rankin have also announced through Facebook that they’ll be holding a housing protest meeting on May 26 at 6 p.m. to discuss solutions to the housing crisis. “This will not be a rant fest. We know the issues already. It’s time to talk about a plan to solve these problems; where to allocate our tax dollars; how to stop unnecessary spending and development; reallocation of developable lands to the hands of the town, etc.”

During his council report and doing his best to hold back his emotions, councilmember Will Dujardin informed the council of his own housing situation. “I’m also one of the people looking for housing and I wanted to put on your radar that right now I don’t know where I’m going to be living after June 30,” he said. “I’m certainly trying my best to stay in town and don’t know if I’ll be able to do that. Please keep your ears open for anything on the market.”

Monday’s meeting was also councilmember Laura Mitchell’s last meeting, who had to resign due to moving to Gunnison.
Community member Jill Voyles spoke at the end of the meeting, expressing her concerns not only for her family but also for all locals working in the service industry.

“I know there are so many people here waiting to speak about this and we are in a housing crisis and if we want this town to thrive and survive then we need to actually figure out what is the best way to keep our families here, keep our community members here that are actually working on Elk. There’s five people in my family; my husband manages a restaurant, I’m working in body work and movement in town and there’s no housing for us, that’s a problem…Why are we letting all of our homes become hotels? That’s a problem. Can we think about our community, about the people that are actually working in town? We can’t push them to Gunnison anymore because there’s no housing in Gunnison.”

Referencing the town’s new parking management plan, she said, “You won’t have an issue with the cars in town because you’re not going to have enough employees working in town. There is a huge class separation. You’re going to watch businesses only open four or five days a week because they don’t have enough staff. I have three little children that are thriving in this community but as of July 6 we will not have housing.”

She continued, “It’s beautiful to see people that have different jobs online be able to relocate here but the service workers are the people who keep you thriving. We give you food, we give you body work, we do so many things. Don’t let that go away. That’s a problem you’ll have to deal with in a year when you’re wondering why the buildings are closed. I would love to take that woman’s (Laura Mitchell) spot who had to go out of town… Some people are here to serve, to serve humans and that’s our passion and if you can’t see them, you’re going to miss them.”

The Crested Butte town council also held an executive session following the regular meeting, for the purpose of determining positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiations regarding a possible affordable housing acquisition.

The public housing meeting will take place the second week of June at the Center for the Arts, with more information to come.