We’ve been discussing a proposal made to the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners, through a letter, prior to their April 6 work session, from a company called ‘Olympus SRH LLC’. The company is remodeling a building to create some affordable dwelling units.
The proposal was quickly summarized by presenter David Dronet, who also provided a quick math lesson in rebated property taxes for affordable housing projects. You can download the proposal here.
Mr. Dronet assured the BOCC that his company was planning to make ‘zero profit’ from the affordable housing project on Lewis Street. He did not define what he meant by ‘zero profit’ — his presentation was, after all, a “quick summary” — but he did state that any property tax rebates provided to his company by the County government would directly reduce the rent for the tenants living in the new eight-unit apartment building. Actually, it’s not a “new” building; it was St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church when I moved to Pagosa in 1993. (I attended a couple of services there when I was giving organized religion another try.) Soon thereafter, the building was sold and converted into an office building.
Here is how the apartment building looked on April 12, 2021, in the midst of a thorough remodeling process.
During questioning by the BOCC on April 6, Mr. Dronet stated that he’s already obtained a fee waiver from Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) and is in discuss with the Town government for additional fee waivers. The BOCC discussed the proposed timeframe of the requested subsidy, and how the subsidy might best be delivered. There were obviously details to be worked out. But the BOCC didn’t seem to have any actual questions for Mr. Dronet.
The BOCC has been talking about the affordable housing crisis for the past decade, but other than leasing some vacant land to Archuleta County Housing Authority for its Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) project on Hot Springs Boulevard, the BOCC has dedicated almost no money towards solving the crisis.
Maybe this project will begin to generate some generosity?
BOCC chair Alvin Schaaf:
“So, I don’t know how to look at it, David, whether it’s good that you’re in on the start of this, or now you’ve gotta go through the growing pains. But I think it is the Commissions — without putting words in their mouths before we make any decision — we fully intend to support this, in any way that we can. That’s been our goal all along. So, we just need to work out [the details]…”
Mr. Dronet:
“Thank you. And if I can just add — any support is great, and I completely agree with some form of performance metrics. So, if we’re not performing, we shouldn’t get any money whatsoever. And whatever time frame, or contribution, and whatever mechanism is best for the County, we’re in full support. At the end of the day, this is just about saving some rent for the residents, and so whatever we gotta do to make that happen, we’ll do.
“And we appreciate your support.”
If you read through the letter Mr. Dronet provided to the BOCC, you might have some questions, even if the BOCC didn’t seem to have any on April 6.
One question that puzzled me, for a day or so, was the name of Mr. Dronet’s development company. As mentioned before, Mr. Dronet appears to be connected, in some fashion, with at least the following companies:
- Dronet Development Group LLC (Colorado)
- Dronet Development Group LLC (Texas)
- Olympus Real Estate Group LLC (Texas)
- Olympus DL1 LLC (Texas)
- Olympus SL1 LLC (Texas)
- Olympus SRH LLC (Texas)
- Springs ABC LLC (Texas)
- Springs DL LLC (Texas)
- Titan Senior Living LLC (Texas)
The company that submitted the affordable housing proposal to the BOCC was “Olympus SRH LLC”. (…except the name is misspelled in the heading.)
I’ve always been fascinated by acronyms. What, for example, could the “SRH” stand for, in this particular company’s name?
As was mentioned before, Mr. Dronet has presented himself as “managing principal” of the Springs Resort. It’s common knowledge that the hospitality industry, nationally, loves to pay substandard wages. In a community like Pagosa Springs, where a working person is lucky to find a rental costing less than $1,200 a month — well, for some of our tourism industry employees, that kind of rent can easily eat up half their monthly paycheck even before they pay their gas bill and your electric bill, to say nothing of their student loans and car payments. Food? What’s that?
As we head deeper into the 21st century, workers are finding it more and more difficult to survive in Pagosa… given the low wages combined with a serious housing crisis.
On the other side of the coin, employers in the hospitality industry are struggling somewhat, to find employees — like most every other Pagosa business. The weekly Pagosa Springs SUN ran almost four pages of Help Wanted classifieds in last week’s issue. (That’s four pages in an issue of 42 pages total.)
Some local companies ran large display ads. At least one was offering a “$300 Signing Bonus”.
What if you could provide “company housing” for your employees? What if you could not only provide your employees with a job, but you could also collect rent from them, for housing you are providing?
This might solve some problems, in a tight job market.
With this in mind, I woke up one morning, wondering if “Olympus SRH LLC” was an acronym for “Olympus Springs Resort Housing LLC”. Wondering if Mr. Dronet was trying to get the BOCC to subsidize the Springs Resort’s workforce problems, with taxpayer money, by helping him provide affordable housing to one particular group of workers?
Looking at the letter Mr. Dronet presented to the BOCC, he is proposing to provide housing for workers earning 60% or less of the Area Median Income (AMI). 100% AMI is the income earned by the “average” person or family; according to a 2018 HUD schedule found online, 100% AMI appears to be about $46,000 for a single individual.
Mr. Dronet’s target audience for his proposed affordable housing earns 60% AMI. About $27,750 per year, according to my pocket calculator. I believe that’s a typical wage for a person working full-time in the hospitality industry in Pagosa.