I’m posting these so that others can share if housing is or is not a problem in communities nearby to federal land, and if so, what are the communities doing about it?
The Denver Post has an excellent series, including one article on resort town efforts with inclusionary zoning.
Redefining affordable
At the core, inclusionary ordinances represent a realization that the free market, left to its own devices, won’t supply enough affordable housing to lower and even middle-income workers in expensive real estate markets.
“Housing is inextricably tied to economic success and our community can’t exist without a strong housing program,” said Betsy Crum, housing director for Snowmass Village. “People need to be able to live close enough to where they work, or the town will face an existential crisis.”
An influx of high-earning remote workers during the pandemic caused housing costs, already high, to surge even more in desirable places to live.
About 75% of remote workers in Colorado’s mountain resort areas in 2021 were making $150,000 or more a year, while only 30% of locals were making that much, according to the Mountain Migration Report from the NWCCOG.
In a fight for housing, locals were the ones who lost out to newcomers. In Snowmass Village, home prices have risen 81.5% in the last four years, in Steamboat Springs, they are up 81.5% and in Basalt, they are up 76.3%, according to Zillow.
Although it isn’t the norm, Aspen has a deed-restricted home valued at $2.5 million, in part so it can attract doctors to work in the city, Anderson said.
Along the Front Range, and across most of the U.S., affordable units target those earning between 30% to 80% of the area median income or AMI, with 60% as a common definition.
That range reflects federal rules for using Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, and Denver adopted that definition in its inclusionary ordinance. But in resort areas, 80% up to 200% is more typical in inclusionary ordinances.
“You can be in the workforce earning 150% of the AMI and be nowhere close to being able to afford a home,” lamented Hannah Klausman, director of economic and community development for Glenwood Springs.
That 150% number works out to an income of $104,250 a year for a single person and $148,800 for a family of four in Garfield County. The median price of a home in Glenwood Springs is $862,500, according to the Zillow Home Price Index.
And things only get more expensive the further up the Roaring Fork Valley someone goes. In Carbondale and Basalt, someone making double the area median income will struggle to find a home or apartment, she said.
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In 2019, Glenwood Springs tightened the rules on short-term rentals and a year later it loosened rules on accessory dwelling units, which had been in place since 2013. Last year, the city created rules that made it easier for hotels to convert to residential units in exchange for deed restrictions, and this year it is considering rules to make it easier to add density.
But Glenwood also faces a balancing act. If it makes things too difficult, development could flow to areas with lower requirements and costs like New Castle, Silt and Rifle.
A criticism of inclusionary zoning is that it can make private development too costly or push it toward areas without requirements, an issue Denver will likely have to deal with. And like a big champagne powder day, the conditions have to be right.
“Whenever you introduce a subsidized component to a development project, it puts pressure on the upper price point to carry that,” acknowledged Tim Belinski, president of IND Ventures and a developer in Basalt.
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But Belinski said inclusionary rules have been part of the equation for so long in the mountains, and the math mostly works, assuming land is available. Resort residents also are acutely aware that the economy needs to have enough workers to function, and housing is a key part of that happening.
Several communities, facing critical shortages, have put on their hard hats and started building housing themselves from dedicated revenue sources, like a portion of sales taxes, fees on deed transfers and short-term rentals. Colorado is also setting aside a share of state income tax revenues for housing.
“Local governments getting involved in building housing has increased since the pandemic. The need is very great, to what some communities were calling crisis proportions,” said Rachel Tuyn, director of the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments.
The city of Aspen recently completed 79 units in the third phase of its Burlingame Ranch project and up next is Lumberyard, which will provide 277 deed-restricted units on an 11.3-acre parcel near the Aspen Airport Business Center.
Avon is looking to annex 100 acres of state land to build 700 deed-restricted units and 60,000 square feet of commercial space. Winter Park Resort, with the support of the Town of Winter Park, is looking to build dorm-style housing with 330 beds. The Yampa Valley Housing Authority has a 10-year plan to build 1,100 housing units for those earning the median income in the Steamboat Springs area.
Interesting dilemma going on in the Rockies, don’t have such conversations about that “much” here in Arkansas. However, we have the same issues, just a much lower starting price. Same desires, same lacking capital.
We are constantly getting requests to rent our house in Colorado, mainly from the city. Much, much harsher financial realities there, with no real good way to move forward. From what I’ve seen in Colorado, Arizona, Montana and Wyoming are in the same boat.
It is a very interesting concept to income limit housing, and to some extent, building on federal land. As a private American, and a long believer in working for what ya got, I’m not too keen on these concepts.
I’ve lived it in resort communities in the West, career paths and just the same “want to” that is driving too many people into the mountains. But, where is the tipping point? How much low (restricted) income opportunities are enough? Can some lawsuit come bouncing in out of the blue somewhere down the road and throw a monkey wrench in the whole Mary-Ann (as Dwayne Ecker used to say)?
I have no answer, which is evident, but do not really like the direction municipalities are moving. Looks more like “throwing lots of spaghetti on the wall, hoping some will stick” (an old idiom seldom used, and not for cooking spaghetti) 🤣.
I haven’t thought of Ecker-isms since I ran into him in Asheville a few years ago. We should make a list of all of them.. 🙂
I live upriver (Rio Grande) a bit from Creede, CO, a mountain town with a hundred plus year mining history. The last mine shut down in 1985 and housing prices took a dip. By the 1990’s housing prices were heading north and realtors were selling lots in the fairly narrow, flat valley floor, which used to have some grazing and was important elk winter range. The two economic drivers in the 1990s and 2000s were tourism and construction. Then along came Airbnb, and Vrbo. Some of the houses have been purchased as investments/businesses for short-term rentals with daily rates at over $200/day. Others are owned by wealthy people (that is a relative term, of course) who use them for time periods ranging from two weeks a year to four months. When they are not using them, the houses either sit vacant or are used as short-term rentals.
With a few notable exceptions, a 1,600 sq ft, house starts at $300,000 plus, but many go for much more. Larger houses go for much, much more. This is Creede, not Vail, Aspen, Breckenridge, or some other Colorado ski town. The relative small ski area, by Colorado standards, Wolf Creek is about 50 minutes away in good weather.
The median income in Mineral Country (pop. 800ish), where Creede is the only town, is about $59,000. The median age is about 50, which is down from 60 in 2016. The older residents are dying off and their houses are fetching a good price to their heirs. Most of the non-business owners working in the service industry make below the median income. There are few long-term rentals in the area. The nearest town down river is South Fork which has a lot of retirees and second home owners. Further down river is Del Norte – where I lived for 30 years. The next town to Creede in the other direction is over a mountain pass and is in the same situation Creede is in. Another highly desirable mountain town.
There isn’t a lot of room to buildout on in the Creede area as much of the private land that is not on steep mountain slopes is in conservation easements, including the 120 ac my wife and I live on (my wife of five years bought it in 1992). The county commissioners believe that market forces will kick in naturally creating affordable housing. Ninety-six percent of Mineral County is National Forest. NFS lands in the area are mostly on steep mountain slopes, although there are some parcels that could be developed. These areas provide access to the river. Fishing is a major tourist attraction.
So what to do? I certainly don’t know. Some seasonal service workers are the children of residents. Some seasonal service workers drive from South Fork or Del Norte, but housing prices in those areas are accelerating fast. For example, the assessed value of my house just outside of Del Norte – that I sold to my daughter for the special daughter discount rate – increased over 80% in five years. Those people driving up to Creede from downriver have to negotiate about 16 miles of twisty road in a narrow canyon above the Rio Grande.
One other point, which I know isn’t the theme of Sharon’s post, is that in my opinion, the culture of Creede has changed dramatically due to the influx of out-of-state retirees, second home owners, and businesses being bought up by seasonal residents. Is that a negative thing? It depends on who you ask. Change happens.