Photo: Government officials and non-profit groups meet at the PLPOA admin building to discuss a lack of workforce housing in Archuleta County, May 2025.
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, and the rich get rich
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows…
— ‘Everybody Knows’ by Leonard Cohen & Sharon Robinson, 1988.
Even back in 1988, everybody knew that the poor stay poor and the rich get rich.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean that only the rich should have safe, adequate housing available. We already knew. back in 1948, that housing is a human right.
From the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the U.S. and 47 other countries in 1948:
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care…
Many years ago, the leadership in the rural community of Pagosa Springs determined that an adequate standard of living could best be assured by promoting the community and the surrounding forests as a tourist destination. This program seemed reasonable, given the the waning of the timber industry and the decline in cattle ranching and sheep herding — the industries that had historically fed the local economy.
For some reason, community leaders placed less importance on another significant driver of the Pagosa economy: an influx of retirees. These retirees were settling here after devoting themselves to successful professional careers elsewhere, and they brought with them pensions that reflected some of the best-paid, senior salaries in their respective industries.
These retirees were able to afford, without too much trouble, existing or new homes in a rural community that had not yet been “discovered”. They supported the local churches and paid their property taxes in a timely manner, and generally appreciated the ‘small town character’ of Pagosa Springs. For many, they were reminded of the communities where they’d grown up. For others, the mix of Pagosa society and scenic isolation was a refreshingly authentic change from the big city life they’d left behind.
But the retirees, like the visiting tourists, were not deeply involved in the ongoing struggle faced by the community’s working households. In particular, the retirees and tourists remained blissfully unaware of how the economy was affecting the availability of adequate housing for the working poor.
I use the term “the working poor” because many of the jobs in Pagosa Springs did not pay enough for what could be called an “adequate standard of living”. So workers have typically juggled two or three jobs to make ends meet.
We’ve now arrived at a crisis situation, where it’s become fiscally unmanageable for a newly-arrived working household to afford housing in Archuleta County, even if they want to work multiple jobs.
Workers who arrived 20 or 30 years ago, and bought a home while they were still affordable, have it somewhat easier.
Is there anything our community leaders can do to rectify the situation?
Here’s Town Council member Gary Williams, speaking at the May 20 meeting hosted in Pagosa by the DOLA Division of Housing. Mr. Williams also serves on the board of Habitat for Humanity of Archuleta County, and lends his carpentry skills to the homes built by Habitat for working families.
“At Habitat, we get USDA 502 loans [with interest rates] in the neighborhood of 1% . So our homes are selling for $1,500 a month instead of $2,100 a month. It’s the interest rate component. So if we could subsidize interest rates… or something like that?”
The Division of Housing had hosted the meeting to hear from the Pagosa organizations and government that have become involved in addressing the housing crisis. What issues are these entities facing? What can the Division of Housing do better?
Mr. Williams:
“And the other thing I just want to say, Habitat over the past three years has been building all-electric, high-efficiency homes. We put solar panels on our houses. We put high-efficiency heat pumps in. The CDC is putting mini-splits in their homes, so they have effective heating and cooling systems… and in one case, an induction stove…
“On average, we’re saving our homeowners something like $2,000 a year on utilities…”
Habitat Project Manager Maddy Bergon — who serves on the Town Council with Gary Williams — added her two cents:
“And on that note, because we deal with modular construction, it’s really hard to access Energy Star funding, because our homes are actually built in a factory, and the factory is building to certain standards, but it’s not reasonable for the factory to halt construction to allow a third-part inspector to come in…
“Whatever we can do to streamline that process and get to Energy Star. Because we are checking so many of those boxes, with the solar, with the high efficiency, with the standards that they have to build to, already. It would be great to get to Energy Star.”
Colorado, as a state, remains committed to reducing energy use and green house gas emissions. Of course, the Trump administration is headed in completely the opposite direction — with the cooperation of Republicans in Congress — promoting the expansion of the oil and gas industry and cutting supports for renewable energy as quickly as possible.
Commissioner Veronica Medina:
“At what point do we really try to help communities build this affordable housing, instead of continually putting obstacles in their way?”
To be sure, we have government leaders in the U.S. who seems to care nothing for the workers who keep our industries and corporations functioning, and who seem to care only about the owners of those industries and corporations. This attitude is baked into the U.S. political system.
But it’s not necessarily baked into local government.
When a local government leader can hear from the families with whom they attend church… or from a friend sitting behind them at the High School play… or from the guy doing the repairs to their roof…
… it’s harder to ignore the message.
Read Part Five… on Monday…