Tell me that you want the kind of things that money just can’t buy
‘Cause I don’t care too much for money
Money can’t buy me love…
— Can’t Buy Me Love, Lennon/McCartney
During the Pagosa Housing Partners presentation at the January 30 Town Council “Housing” work session, PHP staff members Lynne Vickerstaff and Joanne Whitney were discussing the challenges facing their new “RoomConnect” program. That program aims to connect homeowners who may have vacant bedrooms in their house, with compatible roommates looking for housing in a tight — and expensive — rental market. The goals of the program are several: to increase the amount of affordable housing options in Archuleta County, to provide income to homeowners, and to help promote a friendly, caring community.
As many of our readers know, Pagosa Springs has seen very little affordable housing constructed since the start of the Great Recession, and much of our existing rental housing has been converted into vacation rentals — STRs, Short-Term Rentals. As a result, the reduced supply of long-term, workforce rentals has caused rental rates here to basically double over the past decade.
Home-sharing programs have been relatively successful in certain other communities; the programs have struggled to get off the ground in other communities. Thus far, the Archuleta County program — which was partly funded last year by the Town government — has successfully recruited five homeowners and three potential roommates. Ms. Whitney discussed the hurdles facing the new RoomConnect program.
“Folks ask for an application, and I follow up with them to see if they have additional questions. I’ve met with some of the homeowners… and I will give you an example, so you can understand the challenges. This one [homeowner] was all for the program, and really wants to help the community. But he’s vegan, and doesn’t want anyone to cook meat in his house.
“So, when we get to specific criteria, there’s some challenges around that.
“There’s the timing issue, around the inventory and when that room is available, to when the potential renter comes around. We have the problem of passing background checks. We want everyone to enter into this program feeling safe, and we help facilitate the background checks, but it’s really a lease between the homeowner and the rental and we don’t want to interfere or get involved in issue mitigation, from that perspective.
“And then, transportation. Someone has a place available in Aspen Springs. Great unit. But you need four-wheel drive.
“We get inquiries that don’t align with the program. Someone had a three-bedroom condo, and they wanted us to rent out all three rooms for them. But they don’t live there, so that’s outside our scope. Or somebody… sort of has a lease with with the homeowner… and they are not the homeowner… and they want to rent out one of the rooms. That’s also out of our scope.
“So we’re having some challenges. But we keep moving forward…”
Lynne Vickerstaff summarized PHP’s community outreach efforts, the various grants received, and the planned next steps.
“We’d like to work on a long-term funding plan, that will create a pot of money for different types of housing development, to be determined by the Town Council — how it gets used and prioritized. We’d like to help develop a plan for that, whatever it might look like. We’d like to be part of the promotion and support of that effort, perhaps along with the Housing Coalition.”
Ah, yes. Long-term funding. Money. Given that we are sitting in a meeting at Town Hall, the long-term funding would, in this case, most likely come from one or more governmental units. re-directing some of their existing tax revenues… or else a new tax or tax increase funded by the community as a whole. If we’re talking about a new tax or tax increase, the voters would need to approve it. So we’re talking about a political campaign.
In Colorado, governmental units are not allowed to head up, or fund, political campaigns… (although it’s been known to happen anyway.) What Ms. Vickerstaff is here proposing is an independent, non-governmental group — like the new Housing Coalition — taking on the job of running a future election campaign.
Access to money, and directing money in certain directions, is certainly part of the housing issue here in Archuleta County. As noted earlier in this editorial series, the federal government has been running housing programs for many, many years, but those programs reach less than 30% of the people who qualify. That leaves more than 70% of our community’s poorest citizens spending over half their income on housing — or else, homeless.
Can we find solutions… locally? And do all the solutions involve money?
At the January work session, we next heard from the Town Planning Department. Planning Director James Dickhoff listed off 16 recent activities in which the Town staff has been involved, in the quest to address our local housing issue.
Exploring a “density bonus” for a proposed BWD Construction development uptown, that will likely include some affordable housing units.
Conversations with Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) about subsidized water fees for affordable units.
Research into a land trust or land bank.
Engineering studies on some challenging Town-owned property — about 6 acres, a relatively narrow parcel, steeply sloping in places — located in the southwest corner of downtown along Trujillo Road. (County Road 500.)
This parcel has been the subject of considerable discussion recently, as the possible site for a low-income housing project. The Archuleta County Housing Authority (ACHA) had been working on preliminary plans for a Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) development on this property, before getting a long-term lease on a much more suitable parcel owned by Archuleta County on Hot Springs Boulevard. The Town had purchased the parcel from Clifford Lucero in 2005 for $150,000 — with the idea that it might be suitable for affordable housing. Mr. Lucero had purchased the property in 1997 for $10,000.
The Town staff has also been researching deed restrictions, inclusionary zoning, linkage fees, and tax increases as tools for encouraging affordable housing.
Planning Director Dickhoff then summarized the challenges the Town faces in implementing these possible solutions…