Ouray Affordable Real Estate

Regional Housing Authority Moves Ahead With Plan
by Gus JarvisApr 15, 2009 | 40 views | 0 | 0 | | Short-Term Solutions Include Home Rehabilitation and Weatherization

OURAY – While there is little question of the need for affordable housing in Ouray County, the actual number of units required to catch up with the region’s current growth, and projected growth, is a moving target. Combine that with the recession and streamlined budgets of local governments and the process of solving the region’s housing problems has been no easy task for the 10-member Regional Housing Authority.

Still, the group of elected and appointed officials from the City of Ouray, Town of Ridgway and Ouray County is three-quarters of the way finished with a housing plan.

Ridgway Town Planner Jen Coates, who sits on the housing authority board, told the Ouray Board of County Commissioners on Monday that even if affordable housing units cannot be funded immediately because of tightened budgets, the housing authority still intends to create an effective and realistic housing plan for the region.

The authority, with the help of consultant Melanie Rees, has been formulating its plan with data from the 2008-completed housing needs assessment. According to that assessment, there is currently a need for 149 units of affordable housing to catch up with current demands. By 2015, the region will need close to 200. The assessment also states that 75 percent of employees who work within Ridgway live outside Ouray County and that housing costs have increased 10 percent a year with real employee wages increasing at a rate of 2.1 percent a year.

With the understanding that those numbers may have changed from the time the assessment was completed in 2008, the housing authority decided to reassess them in formulating the plan.

“In light of the current economy and changes, we thought it would be a good idea to check in to make sure we end up with a realistic and effective plan that we can feel comfortable putting into action,” Coates told the commissioners. She did not go into details on how those housing needs may have changed, but said the housing action plan and final report will be completed by the end of May.

“We know what the need is,” she said, adding that the question the group now faces is “how do we put a plan into place.”

Coates said that the final report will be made up of six components. It will address the 2008 needs assessment as well as the reevaluation and modification of those numbers to coincide with current conditions. The group also looked at housing trends in Ouray County, like second home ownership and the mix of housing types and income targets.

Other components of the plan call for the authority to create housing goals and objectives that outline the actual housing numbers targeted and to decide on priority strategies to solve the housing problem.

“This is, in part, where we are at right now,” Coates said. “What are our catch-up strategies and what are our keep-up strategies? Frankly, the keep-up strategies are easy. The catch-up strategies require funding. We are excited about keep-up but catch-up is going to be tricky.”

For example, Coates said municipalities can enact certain regulations for future developments that would include a certain percentage of affordable housing. These regulations, like inclusionary zoning, once in place, will be the “keep-up” as the region grows.

To play “catch-up” with the region’s housing needs, money is the main factor.

In the short-term, Coates said, one strategy is to look at the existing housing stock and then lower housing costs through house rehabilitation and weatherization programs.

“There is funding out there for those that don’t require a significant amount of cash,” she said. For example, the Youth Corps recently performed energy audits on 25 homes in Ouray County, and in so doing provided energy efficient light bulbs, handed out exterior and interior laundry lines, and installed energy efficient thermostats. The audits were funded through the Governor’s Energy Office and created by Grand Junction-based Housing Resources. Such programs can be used in this belt-tightening economy to lower housing costs and will be a part of the housing authority’s final plan.

Coates said another portion of the plan will outline the methods of implementation, while the final piece of the plan deals with its administration, or the “who is going to do it and what is it going to look like.”

After hearing from Coates, the commissioners generally agreed that the group is moving in the right direction and that collaboration between the City of Ouray, the Town of Ridgway and Ouray County to addrress housing needs remains a priority.

The final housing action plan is scheduled for presentation on May 27 at the Ouray Community Center.