CB council discusses five-year housing strategy

Absorbing Whetstone before plowing ahead with new construction…

By Mark Reaman

A few concerns and suggestions were expressed by Crested Butte town council members last week as they discussed the draft of the five-year housing and community spaces strategic plan. Finding ways for those using deed-restricted housing to have some mobility within the system as lives change; considering things like healthcare or day care costs when calculating AMI (Area Median Income) which determines eligibility for housing units; and taking time now to prepare for potential future projects were all discussed.

The goal of the strategic plan is to “ensure a resilient and inclusive community by supporting a diverse mix of attainable housing that allows the local workforce and year-round residents to live, stay, and grow in Crested Butte. This means addressing the most pressing affordability challenges, expanding housing options across life stages, and sustaining the people and relationships that define the community.”

Crested Butte has worked on community housing for decades and there are 371 deed-restricted units across town, representing about 28% of the town’s total housing stock.

Council agreed that helping people who have lived in the valley a long time should be a priority.

They also wanted to make it convenient for renters to move units when life changes. For example, a couple might want to start a family and need more space. The idea would be to make it easy to upsize to a larger unit. In the same vein, when a family or couple is ready to downsize to a smaller unit, council wants to make that easy as well.

“Providing mobility within the town’s housing portfolio can be addressed in the guidelines through policy,” said Crested Butte housing director Erin Ganser.

Councilmember Beth Goldstone expressed some concern about the metric of expecting 30% of a household’s income going to housing costs.

“Across the industry, that is the metric,” explained Ganser. “You shouldn’t spend more than 30% of gross income on all housing costs. It works well in some instances but in high priced market areas like ours, it begins to fall apart given higher costs for everything from groceries to transportation to healthcare. On our units, we can adjust the percentage to make them more affordable. We are recommending tiering the AMIs and lowering the percentage for incomes at and below the 150% AMI. We are not in a position to do a household-by-household analysis.”

Mayor Ian Billick thought that type of analysis might be needed, especially given the extreme rise in healthcare costs and insurance premiums that impact certain demographics.

“To me, healthcare is the hardest issue,” he said. “Is there a way to incorporate healthcare costs when doing the analysis? A couple making $120,000 might be paying 40% of their income to healthcare premiums. They can’t then afford using 30% of their income on rent.”

“We’ve gone round and round on that,” said town manager Dara MacDonald. “Where do you stop? Day care can be super expensive and take a big chunk of peoples’ incomes. It can be comparable to healthcare for a certain period of time.”

“Is AMI capturing the impacts of both those types of things,” asked Billick. “Can we factor that in?”

“We don’t yet know the right answer,” said Ganser.

Whetstone impacts

Billick brought up a chart from the county’s Housing Needs Assessment study indicating there is a great need for housing for people making 100% and below of the local AMI. He expressed some concern that the 252-unit Whetstone community housing project being constructed near Brush Creek Road would not address that need and instead would focus on those with higher incomes.

Gunnison County commissioner Laura Puckett Daniels addressed the council by Zoom. “We’re trying to target the middle-income demographic as opposed to the lower income workers,” she said. “But we have a broad range of who Whetstone can serve. The average unit is focused on those at the 120% AMI level, but we can lower that with the flexibility we have.”

She said 80% of the 252 units will have a deed restriction, and 20% will be free market. Having units with market-rate rents she said, would make the math work for the overall project.

“We want to cover costs and serve as many people as possible. We continue to hear about the housing need from places like the university and the hospital,” she said. “The Sawtooth project in Gunnison addresses lower income levels. Whetstone will also hopefully be a pressure relief valve in the overall rental market. With under a one-percent vacancy rate the last many years, there is no competition. So, this might help decrease rents or improve the quality of the units out there. If we have to lower rents to rent them, we will. They won’t sit empty.”

“Given that, it seems clear our long-range planning should focus on the people making 100% AMI and below,” said Billick.

Next on the list…

Council expressed desire to not focus on particulars of the next major housing project but start to look at options and pre-plan future housing development. Billick suggested compiling a list of all town-controlled properties that might be used for future housing. “I also like the idea of planning the next project but not developing it until after Whetstone is absorbed in three years, or five years, or seven years.”

“I agree that pre-development is super important,” said Ganser. “In the meantime, we have a hefty portfolio that needs attention.”

“I am getting feedback that as we move forward, pace, scale and location are all important for housing,” said Billick. “The scale and location of Whetstone have raised some concerns. We need to stay ahead of the curve so we don’t end up needing to do another 300-unit development project all at once in order to catch up.”

“We do have a pipeline started,” said Ganser. “The next project would likely be the property across from the Gas Café east of Mineral Point.”

As for Community Spaces strategic planning, council and staff admitted they are feeling their way into the idea and wanted to move slowly. They will pursue fleshing out ideas on how to make it happen and how to bring in public-private partnerships. They also want to engage local non-profits. But they also said nothing concrete would likely be built before 2028.

Staff and council will look at the next and possible final draft of the strategic plan at the May 18 meeting.