Housing lottery fills three new homes in Crested Butte

Valley Housing Fund anticipates November 15 move-in date

[  By Mark Reaman  ]

At least seven full-time valley residents including a few local children, will be warm and cozy this winter in the three new manufactured homes coming to the Paul Redden Workforce Housing development in Crested Butte’s mobile home park. The development is owned by the Valley Housing Fund (VHF) and there were six applicants vying for the three new homes.

A lottery was conducted last week by the Gunnison County Regional Housing Authority and according to VHF board president Scott Desmarais it appears two Crested Butte Post Office employees will be sharing one of the three-bedroom homes, a couple who work at local restaurants and non-profits will share a two-bedroom home while a family with a couple of kids will occupy the other three-bedroom home.

“All three homes will be rented by the lottery winners,” explained Desmarais. “Their deed restrictions include having 80% of income earned from organizations located in the Gunnison Valley and all of the individuals living in the homes must be full-time local residents. The restrictions did not allow for any remote workers or persons not earning at least 80% of their income from local employers.”

 Desmarais said that similar to other affordable housing lotteries in recent years and given that these were three brand new, multi-bedroom homes for rent, “we had double the number of applications for the homes available. There were six applicants and we’ve had one winner decline their home, so that home has been offered to the first name on the alternate list.”

The two-bedroom home will rent for $1,900 per month while the three-bedroom homes will go for $2,400 a month. “Given these are three brand new homes, VHF decided to reduce the rents below full-cost recovery and below current Crested Butte market rates,” Desmarais said. “The VHF does not apply traditional AMI (Area Median Income) criteria for affordable home eligibility. We did take a look at the 2022 Gunnison County AMI affordable monthly rental rates, however, to make sure we were in line with these guidelines.”

One anticipated benefit of the new manufactured homes is they are built to be much more energy efficient than mobile homes of the past. Given that, utility costs are expected to be more affordable and that should make it easier for people to afford the new units. “The new homes are a massive improvement across energy costs, appliances and other areas when compared to the 40- and 50-year-old trailers they replaced,” he said. “We don’t have exact figures just yet, but we expect energy costs for these homes to be well below average Crested Butte energy costs. We will take a look at actual costs in the months ahead,” Desmarais said.

The units are all pet friendly and come with a 100-square-foot storage shed, two off-street parking spaces and driveway snow plowing included. The homes are expected to be delivered to the site this month and move-in is anticipated to be November 15.