These days you will hardly hear of a situation where young people are not complaining about not having enough money… it is becoming almost impossible for the average person to save up for a home on a single salary – instead, it requires two people [working] in most cases. And add to that the fact that home prices are rising in steep rates across the country and the outlook for young people looking to save for a home is bleak…
— from the Regional Housing Alliance of La Plata County website, April 2019
That first sentence, quoted above, exhibits some fascinating grammar, but the implied meaning holds considerable relevance to the “housing” work session at Town Hall on January 30… as we listened to the proposals and suggestions and requests from our area’s housing organizations and activists.
One could easily walk away with the impression that “money” — or rather, “lack of money” — is at the core of Archuleta County’s housing crisis. But maybe… it’s more than that?
For example, we heard an exchange between the Executive Director of Durango-based HomesFund, Lisa Bloomquist Palmer, and Nicole DeMarco, one of our seven (thoughtful and outspoken) Town Council members. HomesFund is a 501c3 non-profit corporation that offers classes in the art and science of buying a home in Southwest Colorado, and I mean that when I say it: buying a home in current market conditions is an art and a science, if you are a working individual or family. From the HomesFund website:
HomesFund believes that a community that has healthy and happy homeowners is a vibrant and thriving community…
The HomesFund… is a certified Community Development Financial Institute and a HUD approved housing counseling agency. The HomesFund receives funding to administer a variety of homeownership programs on behalf of the local jurisdictions including the Fair Share Program for the City of Durango and the Durango Mountain Resort program for La Plata County…
Ms. Palmer had attended the housing work session to explain her organization’s program, which has offered classes and down payment assistance mainly in La Plata County, but also — occasionally — in Archuleta County. If the Town Council and other government agencies would kick in some taxpayer funding, HomesFund might be able to offer a more comprehensive housing assistance program for prospective home buyers in our community.
Council member Nicole DeMarco, who works with Jann Pitcher Real Estate, pointed out that the type of downpayment assistance offered by HomesFund often doesn’t meet the needs of families in Archuleta County. The HomesFund income guidelines don’t align with the housing prices here, Ms. DeMarco explained. (We might note that Ms. DeMarco has been one of the most concerned critics of the Town’s current Short-Term Rental (STR) policies, which — alongside Archuleta County’s STR policies — have allowed, as she has explained on several occasions, hundreds of formerly residential homes to be converted into commercial “mini-hotels” available only to visiting tourists… and thus put pressure on the residential housing market.)
And so here we start to get into a part of the housing problem that has more to do with “expectations” than with “lack of money.”
A young working individual or family, recently relocated to Pagosa Springs or hoping to relocate here, cannot easily afford to purchase a single family home in our community, even when organizations like HomesFund can offer down payment assistance. This individual or family is also hard-pressed to afford a rental, single family home, if they can even find a suitable one available.
Single family homes on the market for purchase are being snapped up by investors and second-home owners, who are turning them into commercial “mini-hotels” — vacation rentals by owner — thanks in part to millions of tax dollars spent by the Town and County governments promoting Pagosa Springs as a tourist destination.
The community has a severe lack of rental apartments.
Here’s a comment from Pat Tanis, one of the board members of Habitat for Humanity of Archuleta County.
“Sometimes we have a hard time finding people who can afford a house that we’re trying to build here. Alright, with that said, I want to tell you something that I’ve heard. I went to one of the churches, and talked to the pastor, and I said, ‘I’m from Habitat. We want to help anybody who might be interested. We’re looking for applicants…’ And so forth.
“He told me, ‘I’ll look into it.’
“When I went back to talk to him, he said no one wanted a mortgage.
“The key point is, we’re not serving the right people. The service industry doesn’t necessarily want to buy a house. They want to rent something that’s affordable. And I think that group of people who come into the community and serve us, in our town and in our county, need a good place to stay. And some of them don’t want to buy a house, because they’re not permanent. They’re not sure if they can make it here…
“I recently ran into a fellow who’s a carpenter, who wants to bring his family here, but he wants to be able to make it. He’s renting a room, but he doesn’t have enough money for food. It’s all going to pay the rent on this room he’s staying in, so he can see if he can afford to continue living here.
“My husband and I went over to Durango to look at some of the apartment houses they’re building there. They’re very nice. And they’re very affordable. And I think we need one section, someplace, for that kind of thing.
“Because not everyone wants debt. Or a mortgage. They just want a good place to stay, be it permanent or temporary. Think about that when you’re talking about building, because that’s really critical.”
While the folks at HomesFund might suggest that a community needs “healthy and happy homeowners” in order to be “vibrant and thriving” — we might in fact be looking in the wrong direction, if we look mainly at home ownership.