Estes Valley Voice Podcast
Daily releases of the latest Estes Park news, commentary, interesting interviews, and stories for Estes Valley Voice readers and listeners.
Produced by Brett Wilson for the Estes Valley Voice
Estes Valley Voice Podcast
Call it workforce, attainable and low-income, but not affordable
Story by Barb Boyer Buck
“I want everybody to ban the words affordable housing. It’s not affordable housing,” said Eric Blackhurst, president of the Estes Park Housing Authority board, at their monthly meeting on March 19.
“We deal with low-income housing, we deal with workforce housing, and we deal with attainable housing.” Blackhurst said that since the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has specific requirements about what the term affordable housing means, that term needs to be “banned from the conversation.”
Blackhurst was expressing frustration about recent public meetings where the term has been used by the Town of Estes Park Board of Trustees, causing confusion because it implies HUD rules would apply, he said.
Also, the Prospector Apartments, since they are a private development, is “not our concern,” Blackhurst added.
The development on Colorado State Highway 7 was built as attainable workforce rental housing under rules set by the Estes Park Development Code to receive a density and height bonus.
This development is not managed by EPHA and despite local misconceptions, was never intended to be a low-income housing option.
The only involvement that EPHA has with Prospector Apartments is vetting the workforce housing requirement for tenants, meaning that occupants must work within the Estes Park School District R3 boundaries on a full-time basis, and for the attainable units, whether the income limit of no more than 150% area median income is met.
New board member nominated
EPHA Executive Director Scott Moulton and Town of Estes Park Trustees Frank Lancaster and Bill Brown interviewed two candidates for a position on the EPHA’s board of directors. The recommendation to appoint Stacy Ciolli, who has lived in a rental unit managed by the authority for eight years, will be heard at the next Town of Estes Park board meeting on March 25.
EPHA manages 335 units, reported Moulton, and according to state statute, once the authority manages more than 300 units, it must have someone who has benefited from their services to sit on its board. If confirmed, Ciolli will serve a term that concludes at the end of April 2027.