By Joanne Whitney
Pagosa Housing Partners is pleased to announce a community garage sale at 165 Big Horn Court, in Holiday Acres. Dishes, cookware, small appliances, decorations, furniture, Christmas items, pet crates, storage items, garden items. Saturday and Sunday, June 5 and 6, 2021, from 9am – 3pm.
Pagosa Housing Partners (PHP) — a 501c3 non-profit — would like to extend its gratitude for the generous donations we have received this past year. Challenges with COVID and new norms have intensified the housing challenges in Archuleta County. Higher taxes, a housing market dominated by vacation rentals and second-home buyers, rising cost of building materials, and a shortage of trained construction industry professionals are limiting housing availability, and are combining to make it difficult for working families to live in, or move to, our community.
There are many housing efforts within the community currently underway, but many working families are still struggling to find housing they can afford.
Pagosa Housing Partners currently has three projects underway, that the funds from this weekend’s garage sale — and other donations — will support.
2021 Residential Housing Survey
This survey will be disbursed out to the community over the summer months to solicit feedback regarding the housing challenges and needs within the Town of Pagosa Springs and Archuleta County. A similar survey was completed in 2018 and presented to the Town and County governments, and we will be redoing the survey in 2021 to obtain current feedback and compare to the previous survey. The Town of Pagosa Springs is supporting this project, and is interested in the feedback we will be able to obtain. We will post more information about this survey in the coming weeks, in the Pagosa Springs SUN and the Pagosa Daily Post, and we encourage all full-time residents to participate. We acknowledge Pagosa Source Real Estate Advisors for helping to fund the survey.
RoomConnect
This project was begun in 2019 and is currently underway — however, has taken a long pause due to COVID. The program solicits the cooperation of homeowners who have extra rooms in their home and are willing to rent out to workforce employees challenged by teh lack of housing in the community. We strive to find an appropriate housemate for the homeowner while paying for the background checks to ensure all are entering into a safe environment. PHP manages the promotion of the program, connecting homeowners with potential renters — connecting people with similar interests and lifestyles — and arrange for background checks. Once this is completed, both the homeowner and potential renter decide if moving forward into a lease agreement is appropriate. Homeowners are required to rent a minimum of 31 days, to remain outside local short-term rental regulations, and it is recommended for parties agree to lease a minimum of 2 months, and then go month to month.
On-going Garage Sale Events
Donations from Wyndham Pagosa and others have allowed PHP to stage occasional garage sales, raising funds to pay for background checks, advertising and print materials as well as support community members identified with immediate needs and support.
Again, your support in this community efforts is greatly appreciated.
Joanne Whitney is Board Secretary for Pagosa Housing Partners, a volunteer housing advocacy group serving Archuleta County.
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