Housing Study
The following counties include each town that will be surveyed:
* Towns separated by “/” have been combined due to size, location, and population makeupAlamosa: Hooper/Mosca
Conejos: Antonito and La Jara
Costilla: San Luis and Fort Garland/Blanca
Mineral: Creede
Rio Grande: Del Norte and South Fork with Monte Vista added later
Saguache: Crestone, Saguache, Moffat and Center
Purpose
A group of San Luis Valley organizations, businesses, and leaders have come together to work on a solution for the lack of housing and the current high housing costs versus the low wages of our area. The San Luis Valley is made up of six counties including Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Mineral, Rio Grande, and Saguache. Each county, and the communities within, have a different aspect of life depending on the location. Therefore, we cannot treat them all the same. We must create unique solutions to fix each communities housing problems.
As the group dug deep into their research, they found an inequity of past studies. Many of the smaller communities with less funds often did not have studies completed. Instead, they came together to remedy this issue by working together to fund a study in the areas often forgotten.
For the first time, a housing market study and action plan will be completed for the entire Valley. This study will assess the current housing stock and housing needs for each county. A deeper dive will take place in 14 smaller communities that either have never had a study done or who has studies that are over 10 years old. This study will help determine the greatest location of future housing to meet the needs of the community.
Our cohort is working closely with the City of Alamosa who is performing their own housing study. The City of Monte Vista was not being included at the beginning due to the vast number of affordable housing units and a recent study being completed, however, they were part of the Road Map to Recovery grant so were added during the Action Plan phase. The cohort is working to bring data to those communities we felt have the greatest impact and need for more housing.
ACTION PLAN
Action plans are in the works and our team is meeting with community staff and elected officials from June to August.
We anticipate posting final drafts for the region and 15 communities by mid-September.
Final Action Plan Reports
HOUSING STUDY DOCUMENTS
All documents have been provided in PDF format by clicking on the underlined jurisdiction name, if you have trouble accessing please email admin@slvhc.com. Other resources have also been included as links to websites to make your research easier.
An Alamosa Housing Study Cohort Case Study was completed by Ross Strategic as an opportunity for others to learn about the process of collaboration. This study can be found here for your review.
Housing Resource Guide:
A quick glance housing resource guide was put together to show all the resources available throughout the San Luis Valley. This guide, found here, will help connect programs to households in need. The resources listed include, but are not limited to, Financial Assistance, rehab/weatherization, project-based funding, education, and subsidized housing including rental and homeownership for individuals. The guide also includes a government and developers page which connects developers to local resources.
Final Housing Assessment Documents:
City of Alamosa
The City of Alamosa also completed a Housing Needs Assessment and Action Plan to complement their Downtown Plan and Water Efficiency Plan
Other Assessments in the San Luis Valley
Abandoned Home and Vacant Lot Inventory
During the housing study process a single need came forth in almost every community we worked in, abandoned homes and vacant lots near sewer and water could be a quick solution to adding a few more affordable units to a community. If these homes could be remodeled and made livable again a home could find a new purpose with new life. If a vacant lot could be developed with a unit or two some quick options could be available to those in need. With this recurring theme, an inventory list was commissioned, although this inventory will be ever-changing. This inventory took over 6 months to compile and any users should do their own research on any home or lot they wish to pursue as housing opportunities.
Mobile Home Parks are another source of affordable housing. They can be found far and wide in the communities we worked in. A list of parks around the Valley can be found here. This list is also ever-changing so please do your research if you are using this list for your housing opportunities.
Cost of the Housing Study
The estimated cost to complete the entire study, in four phases, was $254,000. This cost included $65,000 for the county study, $35,000 for a valley action plan, and up to $10,000 for community outreach. The cohort has also approved the expenses of $32,000 for add on tasks like tracking homelessness needs, looking into mobile home parks, tracking seasonal labor housing issues, and further analytics. The deep dive into the 15 communities selected will cost $120,000 +/- and it is currently the only portion of the study not fully funded.
Any savings found during this study will be used to implement the plan or add additional study items like a housing inventory or mobile home park needs research.
Funding
The following donations and foundation grants have been received:
$90,000 from the Colorado Health Foundation
$50,000 from CHFA
$10,000, from SLV Health
$13,623 from jurisdictions included in the study.
With the strong partnership in housing with the City of Alamosa and the SLV Housing Coalition, $10,000 of The Colorado Health Foundation grant was issued to the city as the cohort's contribution to their study. This also gave the cohort access to the report.
A DOLA Matching Funds Grant with the Town of Center as the jurisdictional agent was awarded and provided up to $60,000 of the $120,000 community cost if every community involved donates a minimum of $500.
The cohort did not want to make this study a burden and set a maximum donation of $3,000 for these towns and counties. The remaining funds are being raised through community outreach and requests to local and state foundations for financial assistance.
The San Luis Valley Housing Coalition staff would like to thank all those who have participated and continue to participate in the Housing Study process. Without volunteers on the Cohort and community interaction this study would have only remained a dream for so many communities in need. The funding partners helped start the process of turning this dream into a reality but it took everyone involved to make it happen. So THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts. We cannot see what all this study brings to your community!!
Potential Projects coming out of the Housing Study:
Rancho Creede - Purchase by SLVHC with expansion of 8-16 units
Rio Grande Community Trust - Members from the Cohort started a Community Land Trust in Rio Grande County to help lower land/housing costs in for sale opportunities
20 +/- Unit complex in La Jara - CCHA is working on feasibility of a complex in town
Apartment Complex in Saguache - SCHA won a SHIP grant to determine housing needs in town
Housing for educators in Moffat - Moffat School District won a SHIP grant to determine how to bring Teacher housing in
Abandoned Homes Inventory - Throughout Valley abandoned homes are being inventoried so future funding can be located
Mobile Home Park Inventory - Throughout the Valley Mobile Homes in parks are being inventoried to determine the need for funding to help with repairs and other needs.
Boyd School - Purchase by SLVHC for transfer to apartments with additional housing - 40 +/- total units
Western SLV Roadmap - A group of community leaders from Saguache, La Jara, Center, and Del Norte were awarded the Roadmap to Recovery Grant from DOLA to determine how these small rural communities can work together to recover from the economic situations COVID-19 caused or exasperated in their communities. Through this work the team was awarded a DOLA IHOP grant to help these communities review and revise Municipal Codes to Incentivize and Encourage Affordable Housing. The team is looking at Air B&B policies, abandoned and dilapidated building/homes, encourage entrepreneurship (in adults and youth) and how to revitalize downtown areas.
Sub-Committee Meeting Recordings
Please click meeting date to view zoom recording
Rental Housing
2.14.22 meeting 2.24.22 meeting
Improvements of Existing Inventory
2.9.22 meeting 2.15.22 meeting 2.24.22 meeting
Land Use / Regulatory Environment
2.9.21 meeting 2.15.22 meeting 2.24.22 meeting was not recorded
Education / Community Outreach
2.8.22 meeting 2.15.22 meeting 2.23.22 meeting was not recorded
Increase For Sale Housing
Housing Listening Tours
In order to get feedback on draft documents the housing team conducted Housing Study Listening Tours to hear what the community had to say. These meetings were held as hybrid (in person and zoom) meetings to keep everyone safe.
Completed Meetings: For information only
Saguache/Center https://youtu.be/N7QvptXh9EI
Del Norte/South Fork https://youtu.be/0P8-ZJUFq4k
Creede https://youtu.be/Sqp34ctsnoE
Crestone/Moffat https://youtu.be/6q6e5ZtI-bM
Hooper/Mosca https://youtu.be/OM-71cHKSC0
Blanca / Fort Garland Meeting was not recorded in error. Information and notes coming soon
La Jara / Antonito https://youtu.be/uKjMib8LVtM
San Luis https://youtu.be/CvCt3Jx0i3I
Monte Vista Due to COVID no meeting is available at this time
