Housing Authority shares strategic plan and goals

Strengthen leadership, improve deed restrictions, increase homebuyer education

By Kendra Walker

During the June 6 Mt. Crested Butte town council meeting, Gunnison Valley Regional Housing Authority (GVRHA) executive director Andy Kadlec shared an update on the organization’s strategic plan. The GVRHA’s mission is to advocate, promote, plan and provide affordable housing in Gunnison County. 

Kadlec stepped into his leadership role with the GVRHA last October, and said the top priority over the next 18 months is to stabilize the organization, existing programs and services. 

Kadlec told the council he hopes to strengthen leadership within the organization and be an invested stakeholder and advocate for the creation of additional below-market housing units in the valley. Kadlec noted that the GVRHA has been working closely on the One Valley Resiliency Roadmap (OVRR) strategic housing plan with the One Valley Prosperity Project (OVPP). The purpose of the roadmap is to strengthen regional collaboration and create alignment around how to collectively address shared regional challenges, including housing affordability. “With housing being one of those pillars in the OVRR process, it’s made it easy for the Housing Authority to focus on our near- and long-term development for housing resources and preservation,” said Kadlec.  

Within existing programs and services, Kadlec told the council that the GVRHA aims to improve the management and implementation of deed restrictions in the valley. One of the methods that will help them do so is by investing in better software to track deed restrictions. “We’re making a push to modernize the way we’re overseeing the compliance,” he said. “We have 530+ deed restrictions across the valley. Having everything in one program or software that we can access and have a higher level of understanding of what they each have will be a gamechanger.”

Kadlec also noted the GVRHA wants to help facilitate the community’s ongoing compliance with deed restrictions. “We have decades of different deed restrictions with a variety of language of compliance. Using better language in the new deed restrictions and having a good relationship with our local jurisdictions will help moving forward.”

Councilmember Roman Kolodziej suggested adding a hotline or email for people to express deed restriction compliance issues or concerns. Kadlec was amenable to the idea. “What we don’t know we can’t enforce. And we’re a small enough community where people will see we’re cracking down on this and that will help curb some of those issues down the road.”

Kadlec said another goal of the GVRHA is to strengthen its property management arm. “We want to be a partner and use our expertise,” he said. “We want people to work with us on property management to ensure compliance and efficient management. We’re at a precipice of growth in property management. I see our property management team expanding soon.” He noted the upcoming Whetstone affordable housing project as an example. “There’s going to be the need for a bigger organization to fill that property management niche and I think we’re a good fit for that.”

Kadlec also highlighted the GVRHA’s movement toward improving homebuyer education by engaging with prospective homebuyers, local lenders and brokers. “We’re improving communication on our website and working with a lot of brokers, where we didn’t have that engaged relationship before,” he said. “We want to help potential homebuyers understand deed restrictions, the process of working with lender, how to improve credit, etc.” said Kadlec. The GVRHA has held several classes this year for prospective homebuyers and plans to continue offering fully certified homebuyer education classes moving forward. 

I appreciate the education part of it,” said mayor Nicholas Kempin. “I think that is a great asset and a great way to promote this cause we’re all trying to facilitate.”

“In my brief experience so far with the (GVRHA) board, the work you’ve done in eight months has been nothing short of completely amazing in my opinion,” said councilmember Steve Morris. “It’s pretty impressive.”