Councils touch on affordable housing transition issues

County not taking all the duties of the dissolving GVRHA

By Mark Reaman and Kendra Walker

A long philosophical discussion on how to adjust to the new regional affordable housing landscape took place among the Crested Butte town council October 20. The Mt. Crested Butte council shared similar sentiment during their meeting the following evening. The conversations touched on realities coming with the dissolution of the Gunnison Valley Regional Housing Authority (GVRHA) by the end of the year. The initial conclusion was that there is lots of uncertainty at how it will all shake out, but towns should expect to spend more money in the housing realm.

The GVRHA is basically being folded into the Gunnison County Housing Authority and outgoing GVRHA director and current county CFO Melissa LaMonica sent a memo outlining which services the county will take over, and which ones they won’t.

“It is the goal of the county to be transparent and avoid overpromising during this transition, however there are many details that still need to be discussed for decisions to be made,” the memo stated.

The county will stay committed to delivering housing in the valley and oversee LIHTC (Low Income Housing Tax Credit) properties like Anthracite Place and the in-progress Mineral Point development. The county is exploring whether the GV-HEAT program that assists homeowners address utility savings programs could transition to the county Health and Human Services department. Education and outreach will not be a county priority, but it does intend to provide direction and resources to assist people with their affordable housing needs. The new housing authority is determining whether and how it will administer deed restrictions. The county does not plan to provide compliance services in 2026.

For the Crested Butte council, the discussion centered on topics like deed restriction administration with the 375 units in Crested Butte and its partnership with the GVRHA GV-HEAT program that was tied to the town’s GreenDeed program that supported energy efficiency improvements for deed restricted homes.

The town could use some of the $147,000 allocated to the GVRHA in the past to address some of the new housing needs. The town has a vacant planner position in the budget that could be focused on housing issues while some of that money could be used to hire an outside source to deal with deed restrictions. A possible partnership with Mt. Crested Butte to share housing resources and improve efficiency in deed restriction administration was also floated as a possibility.

Community development director Mel Yemma said staff was asking council for initial high-level direction and not decisions at this time. Councilmember Gabi Prochaska is the town representative on the GVRHA and she said, “everything the town has used the GVRHA for is on hold for the next year at least.”

Councilmember Beth Goldstone said some of the services being discussed “definitely need to continue. People in deed restricted units need to feel comfortable if they might want to sell for example. I need a better understanding now of what responsibilities are included in the town’s housing director position.”

“Until recently the GVRHA managed most elements of a sales process,” said town manager Dara MacDonald. “That has changed dramatically in the last few months.”

Mayor Ian Billick said continuing to monitor deed restriction compliance will take a lot of resources to do it well especially given the variety of deed restrictions throughout town. “Philosophically, are we committed to the various types of deed restrictions? That will be a big cost going forward,” he said. “It could be an opportunity to partner with Mt. Crested Butte if they are interested.”

“Compliance has always been under the GVRHA but done ad hoc until this year,” said Prochaska. “The time cost involved was not always understood. But preserving the housing is crucial.”

“Should we outsource compliance?” asked councilmember Anna Fenerty.

“I don’t see how we outsource that,” said Billick. “We need a personal touch with tone and relationships. That’s my initial reaction anyway.”

Goldstone suggested the town perhaps postpone developing the five-year strategic housing plan, but MacDonald said that was already started and under contract.

Billick and Prochaska emphasized the need for a single clearinghouse for affordable housing and that initially appears to be gone.

Overall, the council will hold funding placeholders for housing and GV-HEAT programs while exploration is done on potential future partnerships.

“There will be quite a few more conversations over the issue in the coming months,” promised MacDonald. 

Mt. CB discussion

The Mt. Crested Butte town council agreed to terminate their intergovernmental agreement (IGA) that outlines their participation and annual financial contribution of $181,125 in the GVRHA. The termination is effective January 1, 2026, while also initiating a new IGA with Gunnison County for defined housing services. The council also directed staff to continue evaluating options for regional housing services.

“What does the new IGA look like, given the county has been clear there are some things they won’t be continuing,” asked councilmember Roman Kolodziej. “We’re not just taking out the regional housing authority and putting it in county housing authority, because the county is claiming they aren’t going to be doing half of those original things.”

“That’s a separate conversation we need to have,” said town manager Carlos Velado. “We can begin working collectively to see what it would look like to partner under a similar program.”

“At least now we know and can make decisions for our community and what we need,” said councilmember Valeda Scribner. 

“My position is I’d prefer to sit back and observe what they do and how it evolves. It seems like there’s not a ton a value there because our priorities are not being offered,” said councilmember Steve Morris. “At what point, if we’re a-la-carting things over there, is there an opportunity to work with a third party consultant?”

Mayor Nicholas Kempin agreed. “That could be our answer, we’re not depending on Gunnison County on these services, but a consultant might be doing those for the other towns too.”

“Is this the opportunity to give direction to figure out what services we should be doing in-house vs. not in-house,” said Kolodziej, who has advocated for the town of Mt. Crested Butte to hire a housing staff position or consultant. 

The council agreed there are many angles to explore in the extensive affordable housing discussion as it relates to the role GVHRA played for the town, as well as the town’s strategy and goals for affordable housing moving forward.

The council plans to continue these discussions in the coming months, with an upcoming work session on deed restrictions on November 18 and a housing retreat planned in February 2026.