During its Jan. 8 annual meeting the Estes Park Housing Authority discussed a three-year agenda of activities aligned with the organization’s proposed 2025 to 2027 strategic plan. The plan has not been yet adopted, but Scott Moulton, executive director of the EPHA, expects the draft document to have some minor changes and be adopted at the organiztion’s February meeting.
Focus areas for the organization include:
- Prioritizing projects and opportunities based on impact, need, timing, and resources
- Developing engaged, talented, and trained staff and board
- Enhancing financial sustainability
- Educating and engaging the community
- Collaborating with community partners
Noticeably absent in the document is the term “workforce housing,” said Trustee Bill Brown, Town Board liaison to the EPHA.
“There’s another current Trustee that has pushed back on this, and I think that it’s really a reflection of a segment of the Estes Valley general population,” said Moulton.
“We all get confused about the terminology that we use to discuss housing: low income, affordable, attainable, and workforce. What do these all mean?” he said.
“If the majority of our workforce is made up of relatively lower wage hospitality workers, a workforce development like Prospector, which is not ours, doesn’t necessarily hit that workforce demographic, even though it’s called ‘workforce housing’ so there’s confusion around that phrase,” said Moulton.
Housing Authority projects in the works
Pete Levine, director of real estate development for the EPHA, gave an update on 775 Riverside Dr. Levine shared preliminary drawings for the development which is intended for home ownership opportunities and will contain four triplex buildings with up to 15 new units.
Required road and wetland setbacks have restricted the area in which building is possible on that lot. Levine reported that since the foundation of these homes will be lower than the Riverside Drive grade, not much of each building will be seen from the road. The neighborhood meeting for this project noted safety and sight-line concerns.
When the project at 179 Stanley Circle Drive, which is owned by the Town, was recapped, Levine told the board that the EPHA was in the process of putting together an application to rezone the property. “We’re moving forward with the two-story design with a parking lot. That addresses some of the neighborhood concerns better than the other designs,” Levine said. Due to fire and safety concerns, traffic will flow from Stanley Circle Drive.
For the Fish Hatchery project, the plan is to update the design based on wetland considerations, wildlife corridors, community concerns, and National Park land adjacent to the property. The EPHA will be meeting with representatives from the NPS about to discuss the development.
Moulton also told the board that the Housing Authority is exploring a partnership with Habitat for Humanity. “Home ownership opportunities at an attainable level is what Habitat does well through all of the resources that are available to them,” he said.
A partnership with Habitat could be established by providing 20% of the cost of building and buying a home. “We’re looking to formalize a direct partnership with use of 6E funds for what they have in the pipeline, which includes the five units that they have started on by Ace Hardware,” he said. More information on this will be presented at next month’s board meeting on Feb. 12 at 8:30 a.m. in the US Bank building.
Additional business
The board re-elected Eric Blackhurst as chairperson, and elected Jim Jameson as vice-chair, and appointed various members to each of the sub-committees. The minutes for last year’s annual meeting and budgets for various properties, including 2025 operational budgets for Upper and Lower Fall River Village, amended budgets for the Pines Apartments HOA and the Pines Apartments, were also approved.
There is one vacancy on the board which must be filled with a current resident of an EPHA housing unit. This position will be advertised immediately.
The EPHA manages several properties for income-qualified and/or workforce housing in the Estes Valley and maintains several waitlists for its various locations.
Some properties are low- to median-income qualifying, others only require that a resident works in the boundary served by the Estes Park School District.
The EPHA ministers several home-ownership programs. Assistance to purchase a home is also offered by the Colorado Finance and Housing Authority and workforce housing ownership and/or renovation programs are offered by Larimer County. To learn more, click here.
A rental assistance program that offers $400 per month or a security deposit assistance up to $4,800 for anyone who works at least 30 hours a week locally and is paying more than 35% of their income for rent can be applied for at Crossroads Ministry of Estes Park.
After publication, Scott Moulton, executive director of the EPHA, requested several corrections to the article.