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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION
4:00 PM
I. Work Session: Joint Meeting with the BOCC (BOCC Chambers / Pitkin County Hosts):
Governance
CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION
December 11, 2018
4:00 PM, City Council Chambers
MEETING AGENDA
Work Session: Joint Meeting with the BOCC (BOCC Chambers / Pitkin County Hosts):
Work Session: Joint Meeting with the BOCC (BOCC Chambers / Pitkin County Hosts): APCHA
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AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY
WORK SESSION MEETING DATE: December 11, 2018
AGENDA ITEM TITLE: Joint Meeting City of Aspen and Pitkin County
APCHA Governance
STAFF RESPONSIBLE: Jon Peacock, County Manager
ISSUE STATEMENT: The Board and Commissioners and City Council hold joint meetings every
quarter to discuss issues of common interest. This joint meeting is a follow up to the August 7
meeting to continue the dialogue on governance of the Aspen Pitkin County Housing Authority
(APCHA) initiated by the findings and recommendations of a joint City/County subcommittee. The
APCHA Board has been invited to attend this meeting.
BACKGROUND: APCHA was created as a multi-jurisdictional housing authority by
intergovernmental agreement (IGA) in 1982. Since the original IGA was adopted it has undergone
six revisions, which have changed the governance structures for the authority, most recently in 2013.
A joint subcommittee was initially formed to address the issue of inadequate capital reserves across
APCHA properties. Through the work of that group, deficiencies in the existing APCHA governance
structure were identified as a major contributing factor impeding achieving consensus to resolve the
capital reserve problem. Consequently, the focus of the subcommittee changed from considering
capital reserves to governance.
At the August 7, 2018 meeting the subcommittee advanced recommendations regarding a restructure
of the APCHA Board and governance processes to address issues identified. This was the first time
the recommendations of the subcommittee were heard publicly. The Council and Commissioners
discussed the recommendations, concurred with the issues the committee identified and provided
feedback on the recommended solutions. At the close of the meeting, the Council and
Commissioners gave direction to staff to develop a process to receive input from various
stakeholders to consider the recommendations. This included public, APCHA and APCHA Board
members. The goal of outreach was to identify: 1) if there is agreement with the issues identified by
the subcommittee, 2) input regarding the makeup of the membership of the APCHA Board and 3)
how does the governance structure impede what APCHA should be doing.
City and County staff developed an outreach strategy:
• City staff conducted interviews with representatives from seven HOA’s and the City’s Next
Gen Committee;
• County staff met with APCHA Board members and staff.
• APCHA conducted a survey of affordable housing owners (over 500 responses);
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At this meeting staff will review the results of the outreach completed to date (attachments B-G).
Further discussion between the Council and Commissioners at this meeting will provide staff with
direction as to what amendments to the APCHA IGA should be developed for further consideration.
LINK TO STRATEGIC PLAN:
• Livable and Supportive Community – Diverse and livable housing options
KEY DISCUSSION ITEMS:
• What should be the makeup of APCHA Board (Elected Officials and community
members)?
• What process should be established for making revisions to the APCHA guidelines?
• Should APCHA have more autonomy as an Authority with one jurisdiction being the
fiscal agent?
• Should the APCHA Executive Director report to the APCHA Board?
• Should a public process be included to vet proposed IGA revisions?
BUDGETARY IMPACT:
• None
RECOMMENDED BOCC ACTION:
• Provide direction to staff on recommended IGA amendment
ATTACHMENTS:
• Attachment A – Agenda Item Summary – 08/07/2018
• Attachment B – APCHA Governance Meeting with Next Gen Commission
• Attachment C – APCHA Governance Meeting with HOA Board Members 11-16-18
• Attachment D – APCHA Governance Meeting with HOA Board Members 11-20-18
• Attachment E – Notes from APCHA Board and Staff Discussions
• Attachment F – APCHA Policy Memo Re: APCHA Owner Survey Results
• Attachment G – APCHA Owner Survey Results
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Attachment A
AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY
WORK SESSION MEETING DATE: 08/07/2018
AGENDA ITEM TITLE: Joint Meeting City of Aspen
Joint City/County Subcommittee APCHA Recommendations
STAFF RESPONSIBLE: Jon Peacock, County Manager
ISSUE STATEMENT: The Board and Commissioners and City Council hold joint meetings every
quarter to discuss issues of common interest. At this joint meeting, both bodies will have dialogue
about the findings and recommendations of a joint City/County subcommittee.
BACKGROUND: APCHA was created as a multi-jurisdictional housing authority by
intergovernmental agreement (IGA) in 1982 under CRS section 29-4-201 and 29-4-501. Under the
current IGA APCHA is responsible for overseeing considerable affordable housing assets (1654
ownership units and 1326 rental of units) developed or exacted by the City and County. Of the
current housing stock managed by APCHA it is estimated that 51% were initiated by the City of
Aspen and 49% by Pitkin County. Since the original IGA was adopted it has undergone six
revisions, which have changed the governance structures for the authority, most recently in 2013
(see attachment A). As APCHA matures the policy and administrative challenges of managing
APCHA are increasing.
Under the 2013 IGA all APCHA staff are City employees. The Executive Director is hired by the
City Manager with input from the County Manager, and reports to the City Manager (this
responsibility has been delegated to an Assistant City Manager). Among other responsibilities the
Executive Director develops an annual work plan implemented under direction of the City Manager,
proposes guideline changes, and prepares a budget for APCHA operations for review and approval
of the City and County (who each pay 50% of operating deficits).
APCHA has a seven member board with one alternate. Three members are appointed by the Board
of Commissioners, three members are appointed by the Aspen City Council and one member and
one alternate member are jointly appointed by both bodies. The APCHA board responsibilities and
powers include: adopting housing guideline changes (subject to call up discussed below); hearing
appeals of enforcement actions; housing advocacy; recommending the annual work plan, affordable
housing action plans and other plans to the City or County; reviewing and making recommendations
on development proposals; assisting the Executive Director, City and County with planning,
constructing, operating and financing housing projects and other aspects of the housing program
(though no capacity currently exists within APCHA to accomplish this last function). Both the City
and County retain the authority to individually or jointly prepare a Housing Strategic Master Plan
independent of APCHA.
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Attachment A
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The Board of Commissioners and City Council have retained ultimate housing guideline approval
through a call up provision. Both bodies have 60 days to ‘call up’ guideline changes, which allows
the City Council and Board of Commissioners to independently review any guideline changes
adopted by the APCHA Board and overturn those decisions by a simple majority vote of either body.
This is a robust system of checks and balances that ensures a majority of the APCHA Board, City
Council and Board of Commissioners independently agree to all housing guideline changes before
they take effect. A consequence of this decision process is that when there is not agreement on a
guideline change, the status quo prevails, even when all bodies agree that a change is needed.
This occurred most recently with a proposal to change capital reserve requirements. Late in 2015
the Aspen City Council discussed the desire to formulate a policy that addresses the understood
shortfall in capital reserves across the deed-restricted APCHA HOA community. The City of Aspen
proposed guideline changes based on recommendations from the Housing Frontiers Group (a
housing policy advisory group created by the City Manager’s Office). The City’s capital reserve
proposal was presented in early 2016 at a joint meeting of the Council and Board, and based on
concerns raised by the County a subcommittee with representatives from the City, County and
APCHA was created to build consensus on a capital reserves policy. After several meetings two
alternative policy options were created, one by the City and one by the County, but a consensus
recommendation could not be reached (see attachment B for memo comparing the two options).
Both options were given to the APCHA Board to make a recommendation back to the Board of
Commissioners and City Council. After several months the APCHA Board responded that they
could not make a recommendation on the proposed guideline changes until additional information
from a data project was available. After almost a year and half there is still no clear path for a
decision on capital reserves to be made.
The inability to build consensus on capital reserves highlighted the structural deficiencies in the
existing APCHA governance structure. Consequently the focus of the subcommittee changed from
considering capital reserves to governance. The subcommittee identified several issues with the
current governance structure, including:
• In recent years there has been less coordination between the City Council, Board of
Commissioners, APCHA Board and APCHA staff than occurred historically;
• The process to change APCHA guidelines is cumbersome, and it is too easy for difficult
policy issues to deadlock with no resolution;
• As the housing program matures there are an increasing number of difficult policy issues that
must be addressed in a timely fashion;
• The APCHA board is currently burdened with too many administrative functions or quasi-
judicial responsibilities such as enforcement appeals, land use reviews, etc., not leaving
enough time for strategy and policy work (both local and statewide legislative issues).
It should be noted that the focus of subcommittee discussions was on governance structure.
Everyone appreciates the diligent and hard work all existing APCHA board members have done and
continue to do for the community.
The subcommittee has developed some general concepts for amending the IGA to make the
governance structure more effective by changing the roles, responsibilities and structure of the
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Attachment A
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APCHA Board. It should be noted that outside of the recent City Council retreat, and newspaper
articles this is the first time the subcommittee’s work is being publically discussed. The full council
and board, APCHA board and staff, and the public has not had an opportunity to weigh in on the
problem definition or proposed solution. This joint meeting is the beginning of the public dialogue
on the concepts for changing the IGA and APCHA governance. Following are some of the ideas
that the City Council and Board of commissioners will have dialogue on at this joint meeting:
Concepts of the Proposed Solution:
• Restructure the APCHA Board to include elected officials from the City and County, and
community members. The specific option discussed by the subcommittee is to
restructure the APCHA Board to include two Council Members, two Commissioners and
three community members. However, significant conversation needs to occur about the
total number of APCHA board members and the ratio of elected officials and community
members.
• The new APCHA Board will execute a work plan jointly approved by the Aspen City
Council and the Board of County Commissioners, based on a five year strategic plan also
agreed to by both bodies.
• The new APCHA Board will adopt housing guidelines, the call-up procedure adopted in
2013 would be eliminated.
• The new APCHA Board would designate a Hearing Officer to hear enforcement appeals
and would consider appeals only under very limited circumstances.
• APCHA would continue as a city department and would be responsible for implementing
the jointly adopted strategic plan and annual work plans.
At the joint work session there will be a brief presentation of the subcommittee’s conversations to
date. At this meeting direction will be sought as to whether amendments to the IGA creating
APCHA should be developed for further consideration and if so a discussion of the public process to
vet proposed IGA revisions.
LINK TO STRATEGIC PLAN:
• Livable and Supportive Community – Diverse and livable housing options
KEY DISCUSSION ITEMS:
• Is there agreement on the issues the subcommittee identified with APCHA governance?
• Does the change in APCHA Board role make sense (more policy and less
administratively focused).
• Make up of APCHA Board, membership to include Elected Officials and community
members – what should the ratio of each be?
• Process for input of whole Board and Council to APCHA representatives, strategic plan,
annual work plan, others?
• How work plans/strategic plans will be used to provide direction for APCHA board and
City as fiscal agent.
BUDGETARY IMPACT:
• None
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Attachment A
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RECOMMENDED BOCC ACTION:
• Provided direction to staff on recommended IGA amendment
ATTACHMENTS:
• Attachment A - Fifth Amended and Restated Intergovernmental Agreement Aspen/Pitkin
County Housing Authority, December 2013
• Attachment B – 4/9/2017 Capital Reserve Memo from Capital Reserve Workgroup
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Attachment B
APCHA Governance Meeting with
Next Gen Commission
What should APCHA be doing?
1. What is the role of a housing authority for our community?
• Provide for sale/for rental housing for the workforce
• Maintain a full and thriving community – include workers and others who make up a community
• The conversation should include transportation, economics, etc
• Provide and manage rental/sale housing inventory (numbers for instance)
• Manage inventory vs community need
• Literally manage the inventory – an active role in managing the complex (doesn’t have to do it
yourself, can be contracted out) – standards for operation
• Need a “new” contract between owners and to set expectations
• Be aware of expiring deed restrictions – be able to extend the deed restriction
• Plan for the future of shifting demographics
• Input/oversight of how to spend fee in lieu receipts
• Enforce housing guidelines
• Assisting buyer/seller as exclusive broker
• Increasing (build/buy/etc) new housing
•
2. What are the goals of workforce housing?
• Keep a community in Aspen
• House 60% of the workforce
• Decrease traffic
• Allow locals to own property, a stepping stone to free market
• City/county should be able to build within Pitkin County
• City/county should be able to build within valley (include Eagle and Garfield Counties)
• Keep local investment in the local community
•
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Attachment B
How does the governance structure impede these
goals?
3. What decisions are / should APCHA Board be making?
• Long term strategic planning – including development decisions
• There should be an independent APCHA with independent funding streams
• Make ALL decisions in regards employee housing
• Board members appointed by electeds or some portion of the board appointed – rest
elected by voters
• Elected board members by voters
• Current city taxes/fees for housing handed over to an independent APCHA
• Some city/county elected officials on board
4. What decisions are / should administrative and made by staff?
• Enforcement decisions
• Managing the program (like it is now)
•
5. What decisions are / should electeds be making?
• Funding mechanisms
• Help “shape” the composition of the board – but let board take it from there
•
Anything Else?
•
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Attachment C
APCHA Governance Meeting with
HOA Board Members
11-16-18
What should APCHA be doing?
1. What is the role of a housing authority for our community?
• To develop new housing
• Ensure the maintenance of facilities in order to retain value
• Facilitate affordable housing for employees of Pitkin County (not for retirees)
• And for workers and retiring employees
• To come up with a decision about retiring employees in affordable housing
• Enforce the guidelines
• Some appointment of elected officials to the board?
2. What are the goals of workforce housing?
• Make sure that people who work here can live here affordably
• To ensure the availability of the workforce in close proximity to their place of
employment
• Especially those who are vital to our public safety (e.g. first responders, critical people to
making sure the community works)
• 100% of the workforce?
• At what point do we limit growth in order to limit employee growth?
•
How does the governance structure impede these
goals?
3. What decisions are / should the APCHA Board be making?
• Guideline decisions
• Eliminate the back and forth between Board and elected bodies
•
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Attachment C
4. What decisions are / should be administrative and made by staff?
• Continue much of what they do now, not create policy
• Enforcement with an appeal path to the Board
• If not decision, they need access to the Board who will consider their advice
5. What decisions are / should elected officials be making?
• Appointments to the APCHA Board
• Some level of oversight of Board decisions
• If elected officials are added, they determine which official serves on the board
OTHER
6. Who should be on the board?
• Some representation of the elected bodies – maybe one from each elected body
• Well rounded expertise and experience in AH
WHAT ELSE?
• Hearing’s Officer should be a panel, not an individual
• Are we outpricing ourselves even with the category system?
•
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Attachment D
APCHA Governance Meeting with
HOA Board Members
11-20-18
What should APCHA be doing?
1.What is the role of a housing authority for our community?
•To provide housing opportunities for the local workforce – that allows people who work here to
live here
•Should have a role in development/purchase of new properties (even if they can’t fund the
purchase, they can recommend)
•Protect the housing we do have (enforcement, qualification, capital reserve – keeping the
properties viable into the future)
•Should their role be to educate homeowners and HOAs? “Yes”
•Staff continue education efforts to homeowners and potential buyers
2.What are the goals of workforce housing?
•Some kind of “cap” on the numbers of retirees in housing?
•Increase the number of years working before you can retire
•Continue to develop new housing in order to meet current goal of housing 45% of the
workforce
•Protect the pool of rental properties so they are available to workers
•
How does the governance structure impede these
goals?
3.What decisions are / should APCHA Board be making?
•Making decisions about housing guidelines
•How to enlarge the housing pool?
•Making the housing pool is as effective/efficient as it can be – vis a vis retirees, new
housing, rental vs. ownership, matching bedrooms to occupants (how to do?
Incentives?),
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Attachment D
4. What decisions are / should administrative and made by staff?
• First pass at enforcement – but some appeal pathway needs to be there before turning
to the District Court
• Qualifications, sales broker,
5. What decisions are / should elected officials be making?
• Not be making enforcement decisions
• New affordable housing development
Other
• Housing “Mediator” instead of a Hearings Officer – and not the APCHA Board
• Housing guidelines need to be followed by all – the community deserves that kind of
accountability
•
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Notes from APCHA Board and Staff Discussions
Problem definition:
•Consensus on problem – resolve antiquated policies that make the program ineffective and
inefficient, need process so policy changes can be timely advanced; APCHA Board decisions not
moving to all EO (i.e.: Affordability)
•City Council, BOCC and APCHA Board may not all agree, causing nothing to move forward
•Maturing housing program needs updated policies
•Hire Hearing Officer so APCHA Board may focus on policy matters
What Should APCHA be doing:
•More marketing and education needed regarding what are responsibilities of living in APCHA
housing; play a role in promoting a sense of community among APCHA residents. APCHA should
be a community resource, not just a place to deal with administrative matters – look for
opportunities to promote community
•APCHA Board should set Annual Work Plan for APCHA, with input from Elected bodies
•Play a more active role in managing the housing assets, provide links to resources for property
management to HOAs
•An inventory adjustment process is needed (changes in size of units)
•Maintaining and updating policy/guidelines; management and enforcement; maintenance of
assets (resource); limited role in development. Guidelines are changed a loopholes in the system
are found and are needed to be eliminated. When a substantive change is needed, it needs to
happen, The Board should have the authority
•Current system is just workforce housing, not social service system
•More oversight in non-compliance, should be a priority
•Self-Supporting district: independent for management and governance
•APCHA should have leverage over development; we’re running out of land, elected officals need
to reorient to the future for locations of housing
•APCHA Board should be able to contribute to Board agendas
Board Makeup:
•Current Board is dedicated with housing expertise; elected officials may dilute power and
ethnicity. Currently decisions are unanimous (decisions are recommendations)
•Appointed Board – term limits, retain or not retain
•Today’s structure is a cheap option – get a lot of value and expertise in members - free
participation
•Elected Official on APCHA – concerned that elected official will feel it is their Board to run,
diminishing value of community members; concern elected official will look to protect their
current interest vs what’s best for the program 10 years from now
•Concerned elected official will micro-manage
•Elected official should not participate in Land Use decisions at the APCHA level
•Land Use should be decided in the Code; what is inbounds for discretion to be reviewed by
APCHA
•Citizens being on a Board with elected official that appointed them – concern when there may
be a disagreement. Can a citizen member disagree?
•Non-majority elected body - 1 elected official each is OK with decisions of Board being final.
Elected official would feel too political; there’s a concern regarding time commitment, tipping
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the room, currently high functioning team – does it get diluted? Currently, miss 3 meetings –
asked to resign
APCHA Administration:
•APCHA is set up to be independent; financial contribution by City and County creates control
need; contribution is not a justification for control
•Exec Director should report to the APCHA Board, current arrangement is an untenable position
between 3 Boards
•APCHA evolved into City administration over time; not OK to be a City Dept., it’s an Authority
•APCHA Board having a more administrative role, hiring fiscal agents or individual services; City
or County as fiscal agent only
•Potentially expand IGA to include down valley communities
•APCHA should strive for greater financial autonomy from the City and County
•Fast track HIMS program for greater insight into the short and long-term challenges facing the
program
•Current IGA can have City and County creating APCHA Annual Plan – does not happen
General Concerns/ Comments:
•The APCHA Board works in isolation; it’s disconnected from City and County. Board members
don’t know what position EO have on issues. Elected Officials do not know the APCHA Board
accomplishments or concerns
•There needs to be improvement in communication and education EO to APCHA Board and
APCHA Board to Elected Official; Council/Board have incomplete experience and knowledge as
to what the APCHA Board is doing
•There is a perceived lack of attention by elected officials to APCHA; elected officals seem to be
out of touch. Only 2 Elected Officials live in APCHA housing
•APCHA Board only has one focus – housing
•Being a City Dept. may cause conflict on what’s best for the whole program – City mgmt. or
Council may not agree
•Capital Reserve… APCHA Board didn’t want to give recommendation without knowing the
extent of the problem
•Employers should pay a wages in line with the cost of living and not expect affordable housing to
fill the gap
•It’s now more competitive to get APCHA housing than it was 10 years ago.
•Public perception is City and APCHA are the same
•Those living in APCHA housing are receiving a subsidy but yet, feel APCHA is unfair, APCHA gets
a bad reputation. It’s not a responsible attitude from residents
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Attachment F
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POLICY MEMORANDUM
TO: APCHA Board of Directors
FROM: Mike Kosdrosky, Executive Director
DATE: December 5, 2018
RE: APCHA Owner Survey Results
RE: Customer Satisfaction, Governance/Policy, & Demographics
TOPIC
APCHA conducted an anonymous survey of deed restricted homeowners from Friday, November 16,
2018, through Monday, December 3, 2018, through the online survey platform, SurveyMonkey. Staff
twice emailed 1,800 invitations to APCHA homeowners to complete the survey via an online link. The
goal was to obtain 300 responses regarding three broad topics – customer satisfaction, customer
opinions about APCHA policy priorities and governance structure, along with basic demographic
information.
BACKGROUND
In response to Aspen City Council’s and the Pitkin County Board of Commissioners’ request back in
August to conduct public outreach about APCHA governance (Intergovernmental Agreement), the
APCHA conducted a targeted survey of its 1,658 deed restricted households in preparation for the Joint
Meeting on APCHA Governance scheduled for December 11, 2018. To encourage participation, staff
came up with fourteen different questions ranging from governance to customer satisfaction to
demographics. The survey was designed to collect both quantitative and qualitative data for policy
makers.
The APCHA Survey collected 576 total responses and 535 complete responses for a 93% completion
rate. In addition, the survey produced a wealth of qualitative data from 265 open-ended responses. It
should be noted, however, that this research was not conducted through random sampling and
therefore is not statistically representative of the entire APCHA ownership population; nor does it
represent the opinions of other deed restricted populations like renters or applicants, nor is it a
sampling of the opinions of the broader Aspen and Pitkin County communities.
DISCUSSION
Below (and attached) is a summary of quantitative and qualitative survey datato it for key findings and
themes. Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole number.
Q1 - Overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the APCHA housing program?
575 Answered:
• 61% of owner-respondents said that they are either “satisfied” (37%) or “very satisfied”
(24%) with the APCHA housing program;
• 24% of owner-respondents said they are “somewhat satisfied” with the APCHA housing
program; and
• 15% of owner-respondents said they are either “somewhat dissatisfied” (10%) or “very
dissatisfied” (5%) with the APCHA housing program.
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Attachment F
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Q2: How well does the APCHA housing meet your needs?
573 Answered:
•60% of owner-respondents said that APCHA housing meets their needs either “very well”
(36%) or “extremely well” (24%);
•28% of owner-respondents said that APCHA housing meets their needs “somewhat well”;
and
•12% of owner-respondents said that APCHA housing meets their needs either “not so well”
(8%) or “not at all” (4%).
Q3: How would you rate the quality of your APCHA housing?
571 Answered:
•57% of owner-respondents said they would rate the quality of their APCHA housing as either
“good quality” (37%) or “very high quality” (20%);
•27% of owner-respondents said they would rate the quality of their APCHA housing as
“average quality”; and
•16% of owner-respondents said they would rate the quality of their APCHA housing as either
“low quality” (11%) or “very low quality” (5%).
Q4: How would you rate the affordability of your APCHA housing?
573 Answered:
•69% of owner-respondents said they would rate the affordability of their APCHA housing as
either “affordable” (43%) or “very affordable” (26%);
•22% of owner-respondents said they would rate the affordability of their APCHA housing as
“somewhat affordable”; and
•10% of owner-respondents said they would rate the affordability of their APCHA housing as
either “somewhat unaffordable” (6%) or “unaffordable” (4%).
Q5: Which type of affordable housing should APCHA provide? (Select one or as many as you’d like)
552 Answered:
•76% of owner-respondents chose “workforce housing”;
•65% of owner-respondents chose “community housing”;
•27% of owner-respondents chose “supportive housing”; and
•9% of owner-respondents chose “other”.
Q6: Which of the following policy issues do you think are most important for APCHA to focus its attention
on? (Make up to five choices)
548 Answered. Ranked by preference:
1.Address deferred maintenance of units (45%)
2.Prevent fraud, abuse, and non-compliance (45%)
3.Increase for-sale housing opportunities (44%)
4.Provide options for senior or retiree housing (39%)
5.Improve housing quality (37%)
6.Provide more options for downsizing or rightsizing (36%)
7.Address insufficient HOA capital reserve funds (29%)
8.Reduce politics in program (29%)
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Attachment F
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9. Simplify housing guidelines and rules (27%)
10. Increase rental housing opportunities (27%)
11. Improve affordability (23%)
12. Address deferred maintenance of HOA common areas (21%)
13. Create a new governance structure (7%)
14. Other (open-ended comments) (20%)
Q7: Which ONE of the following options do you think would provide the best governance and
administrative structure for APCHA? (Choose only one)
550 Answered. Ranked by preference:
1. I don’t know (39%)
2. Multi-Jurisdictional Housing Authority serving Aspen and Pitkin County, administered under
APCHA (15%)
3. Multi-Jurisdictional Housing Authority serving Roaring Fork Valley, administered under
partnering local governments (similar to Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA)
structure) (14%)
4. Multi-Jurisdictional Housing Authority serving Aspen and Pitkin County, administered under
City of Aspen (current structure) (11%)
5. Multi-Jurisdictional Housing Authority serving Aspen and Pitkin County, administered under
Pitkin County (9%)
6. Become a Housing Department under Pitkin County (6%)
7. Become a Housing Department under the City of Aspen (5%)
Q8: What APCHA income category is your home?
533 Answered. Total percent of survey owner-respondents:
• Category 1 (low income limit) (3%)
• Category 2 (low-moderate income limit) (16%)
• Category 3 (upper-moderate income limit) (23%)
• Category 4 (middle income limit) (28%)
• Category 5 (upper-middle income limit) (4%)
• Category 6 (upper-middle income limit) (2%)
• Category 7 (upper-middle income limit) (1%)
• Resident Occupied (RO) (No income limit) (16%)
• I don't know (8%)
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Attachment F
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Q9: Where do you live?
532 Answered:
•In the City of Aspen (64%)
•In Pitkin County, but outside the City of Aspen city limits (34%)
•Other (please specify) (2%)
Q10: Which of the following best describes your household?
533 Answered:
•Adult living alone (24%)
•Single parent with child(ren) (8%)
•Couple, no child(ren) (23%)
•Couple with child(ren) (37%)
•Unrelated roommates (3%)
•Family members and unrelated roommates (1%)
•Immediate and extended family members (2%)
•Other (please specify) (2%)
Q11: Which age group below includes your age?
532 Answered:
•Under 18 (1%)
•18-24 (1%)
•25-34 (10%)
•35-44 (24%)
•45-54 (29%)
•55-64 (19%)
•65+(16%)
Q12: Which of the following options best describes your employment status?
532 Answered:
•Employed, working full-time (86%)
•Employed, working part-time (7%)
•Not employed, looking for work (0%)
•Not employed, NOT looking for work (0%)
•Retired (6%)
•Disabled, not able to work (0%)
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Attachment F
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Q13: How much total combined money did all members of your HOUSEHOLD earn last year?
534 Answered:
•$0 to $9,999 (1%)
•$10,000 to $24,999 (4%)
•$25,000 to $49,999 (15%)
•$50,000 to $74,999 (21%)
•$75,000 to $99,999 (19%)
•$100,000 to $124,999 (14%)
•$125,000 to $149,999 (9%)
•$150,000 to $174,999 (5%)
•$175,000 to $199,999 (2%)
•$200,000 and up (2%)
•Prefer not to answer (9%)
Q14: Do you have any final comments or opinions you would like to share with APCHA?
265 Answered. Open-ended comments were sorted into the most frequently recurring themes
and coded as either positive (green), negative (red), or neutral (gray).
Major Themes:
•HOA
•Maintenance
•Capital Improvements
•Downsizing/Retiring in Unit
•Unit size/capacity
•Buy/sale process
•Compliance/enforcement
•APCHA Operations
•APCHA Staff
•Miscellaneous
RECOMMENDATION
Summary data for discussion purposes only. Cross tabulation of data is recommended to assist future
Board policy discussions.
P20
I.
24%139
37%213
24%136
10%58
5%29
Q1 Overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the APCHA housing
program?
Answered: 575 Skipped: 1
TOTAL 575
Very satisfied
Satisfied
Somewhat
satisfied
Somewhat
dissatisfied
Very
dissatisfied
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
37%
37%
37%
37%
37%
37%
37%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
10%
10%
10%
10%
10%
10%
10%
5%
5%
5%
5%
5%
5%
5%
ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES
Very satisfied
Satisfied
Somewhat satisfied
Somewhat dissatisfied
Very dissatisfied
1 / 16
Aspen Pitkin County Housing Authority Survey Attachment GP21
I.
24%140
36%205
28%159
8%46
4%23
Q2 How well does the APCHA housing meet your needs?
Answered: 573 Skipped: 3
TOTAL 573
Extremely well
Very well
Somewhat well
Not so well
Not at all
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
36%
36%
36%
36%
36%
36%
36%
28%
28%
28%
28%
28%
28%
28%
8%
8%
8%
8%
8%
8%
8%
4%
4%
4%
4%
4%
4%
4%
ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES
Extremely well
Very well
Somewhat well
Not so well
Not at all
2 / 16
Aspen Pitkin County Housing Authority Survey P22
I.
20%112
37%211
27%155
11%62
5%31
Q3 How would you rate the quality of your APCHA housing?
Answered: 571 Skipped: 5
TOTAL 571
Very high
quality
Good quality
Average quality
Low quality
Very low
quality
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%
20%
20%
20%
20%
20%
20%
20%
37%
37%
37%
37%
37%
37%
37%
27%
27%
27%
27%
27%
27%
27%
11%
11%
11%
11%
11%
11%
11%
5%
5%
5%
5%
5%
5%
5%
ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES
Very high quality
Good quality
Average quality
Low quality
Very low quality
3 / 16
Aspen Pitkin County Housing Authority Survey P23
I.
26%147
43%245
22%127
6%32
4%22
Q4 How would you rate the affordability of your APCHA housing?
Answered: 573 Skipped: 3
TOTAL 573
Very affordable
Affordable
Somewhat
affordable
Somewhat
unaffordable
Unaffordable
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%
26%
26%
26%
26%
26%
26%
26%
43%
43%
43%
43%
43%
43%
43%
22%
22%
22%
22%
22%
22%
22%
6%
6%
6%
6%
6%
6%
6%
4%
4%
4%
4%
4%
4%
4%
ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES
Very affordable
Affordable
Somewhat affordable
Somewhat unaffordable
Unaffordable
4 / 16
Aspen Pitkin County Housing Authority Survey P24
I.
76%419
65%358
27%150
9%50
Q5 Which type of affordable housing should APCHA provide? (Select
one or as many as you'd like)
Answered: 552 Skipped: 24
Total Respondents: 552
Workforce
housing (i.e.
housing for
full-time...
Community
housing (i.e.
housing for
permanent...
Supportive
housing (i.e.
housing for
homeless, soc...
Other (please
specify)
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
76%
76%
76%
76%
76%
76%
76%
65%
65%
65%
65%
65%
65%
65%
27%
27%
27%
27%
27%
27%
27%
9%
9%
9%
9%
9%
9%
9%
ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES
Workforce housing (i.e. housing for full-time permanent and seasonal employee households)
Community housing (i.e. housing for permanent residents regardless of employment status; e.g. qualified APCHA retirees,
low/moderate income households, and disabled persons)
Supportive housing (i.e. housing for homeless, social services, senior-specific housing, etc.)
Other (please specify)
5 / 16
Aspen Pitkin County Housing Authority Survey P25
I.
45%247
23%128
37%203
27%148
Q6 Which of the following policy issues do you think are most important
for APCHA to focus its attention on? (Make up to five choices)
Answered: 548 Skipped: 28
Address
deferred...
Improve
affordability
Improve
housing quality
Increase
rental housi...
Increase
for-sale...
Provide more
options for...
Reduce
politics in...
Simplify
housing...
Address
deferred...
Provide
options for...
Create a new
governance...
Address
insufficient...
Prevent fraud,
abuse and...
Other (please
specify)
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%
45%
45%
45%
45%
45%
45%
45%
23%
23%
23%
23%
23%
23%
23%
37%
37%
37%
37%
37%
37%
37%
27%
27%
27%
27%
27%
27%
27%
44%
44%
44%
44%
44%
44%
44%
36%
36%
36%
36%
36%
36%
36%
29%
29%
29%
29%
29%
29%
29%
27%
27%
27%
27%
27%
27%
27%
21%
21%
21%
21%
21%
21%
21%
39%
39%
39%
39%
39%
39%
39%
7%
7%
7%
7%
7%
7%
7%
29%
29%
29%
29%
29%
29%
29%
45%
45%
45%
45%
45%
45%
45%
20%
20%
20%
20%
20%
20%
20%
ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES
Address deferred maintenance of units
Improve affordability
Improve housing quality
Increase rental housing opportunities
6 / 16
Aspen Pitkin County Housing Authority Survey P26
I.
44%241
36%199
29%158
27%149
21%117
39%216
7%40
29%160
45%246
20%108
Total Respondents: 548
Increase for-sale housing opportunities
Provide more options for downsizing or rightsizing
Reduce politics in program
Simplify housing guidelines and rules
Address deferred maintenance of HOA common areas
Provide options for senior or retiree housing
Create a new governance structure
Address insufficient HOA capital reserve funds
Prevent fraud, abuse and noncompliance
Other (please specify)
7 / 16
Aspen Pitkin County Housing Authority Survey P27
I.
11%59
9%52
15%84
14%79
5%30
6%33
39%213
Q7 Which ONE of the following options do you think would provide the
best governance and administrative structure for APCHA? (Choose only
one)
Answered: 550 Skipped: 26
TOTAL 550
Multi-Jurisdict
ional Housin...
Multi-Jurisdict
ional Housin...
Multi-Jurisdict
ional Housin...
Multi-Jurisdict
ional Housin...
Become a
Housing...
Become a
Housing...
I don't know
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%
11%
11%
11%
11%
11%
11%
11%
9%
9%
9%
9%
9%
9%
9%
15%
15%
15%
15%
15%
15%
15%
14%
14%
14%
14%
14%
14%
14%
5%
5%
5%
5%
5%
5%
5%
6%
6%
6%
6%
6%
6%
6%
39%
39%
39%
39%
39%
39%
39%
ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES
Multi-Jurisdictional Housing Authority serving Aspen and Pitkin County, administered under City of Aspen (current structure)
Multi-Jurisdictional Housing Authority serving Aspen and Pitkin County, administered under Pitkin County
Multi-Jurisdictional Housing Authority serving Aspen and Pitkin County, administered under APCHA
Multi-Jurisdictional Housing Authority serving Roaring Fork Valley, administered under partnering local governments (similar
to Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA) structure)
Become a Housing Department under the City of Aspen
Become a Housing Department under Pitkin County
I don't know
8 / 16
Aspen Pitkin County Housing Authority Survey P28
I.
3%15
16%84
23%122
28%150
4%19
2%12
1%3
16%86
8%42
Q8 What APCHA income category is your home?
Answered: 533 Skipped: 43
TOTAL 533
Category 1
(low income...
Category 2
(low-moderat...
Category 3
(upper-moder...
Category 4
(middle inco...
Category 5
(upper-middl...
Category 6
(upper-middl...
Category 7
(upper-middl...
Resident
Occupied (RO...
I don't know
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%
3%
3%
3%
3%
3%
3%
3%
16%
16%
16%
16%
16%
16%
16%
23%
23%
23%
23%
23%
23%
23%
28%
28%
28%
28%
28%
28%
28%
4%
4%
4%
4%
4%
4%
4%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
16%
16%
16%
16%
16%
16%
16%
8%
8%
8%
8%
8%
8%
8%
ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES
Category 1 (low income limit)
Category 2 (low-moderate income limit)
Category 3 (upper-moderate income limit)
Category 4 (middle income limit)
Category 5 (upper-middle income limit)
Category 6 (upper-middle income limit)
Category 7 (upper-middle income limit)
Resident Occupied (RO) (No income limit)
I don't know
9 / 16
Aspen Pitkin County Housing Authority Survey P29
I.
64%341
34%181
2%10
Q9 Where do you live?
Answered: 532 Skipped: 44
TOTAL 532
In the City of
Aspen
In Pitkin
County, but...
Other (please
specify)
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%
64%
64%
64%
64%
64%
64%
64%
34%
34%
34%
34%
34%
34%
34%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES
In the City of Aspen
In Pitkin County, but outside the City of Aspen city limits
Other (please specify)
10 / 16
Aspen Pitkin County Housing Authority Survey P30
I.
24%130
8%42
23%120
37%199
3%14
1%6
2%12
2%10
Q10 Which of the following best describes your household?
Answered: 533 Skipped: 43
TOTAL 533
Adult living
alone
Single parent
with child(ren)
Couple, no
child(ren)
Couple with
child(ren)
Unrelated
roommates
Family members
and unrelate...
Immediate and
extended fam...
Other (please
specify)
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
8%
8%
8%
8%
8%
8%
8%
23%
23%
23%
23%
23%
23%
23%
37%
37%
37%
37%
37%
37%
37%
3%
3%
3%
3%
3%
3%
3%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES
Adult living alone
Single parent with child(ren)
Couple, no child(ren)
Couple with child(ren)
Unrelated roommates
Family members and unrelated roommates
Immediate and extended family members
Other (please specify)
11 / 16
Aspen Pitkin County Housing Authority Survey P31
I.
1%6
1%4
10%51
24%130
29%155
19%100
16%86
Q11 Which age group below includes your age?
Answered: 532 Skipped: 44
TOTAL 532
Under 18
18-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
55-64
65+
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
10%
10%
10%
10%
10%
10%
10%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
24%
29%
29%
29%
29%
29%
29%
29%
19%
19%
19%
19%
19%
19%
19%
16%
16%
16%
16%
16%
16%
16%
ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES
Under 18
18-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
55-64
65+
12 / 16
Aspen Pitkin County Housing Authority Survey P32
I.
86%457
7%38
0%2
0%1
6%33
0%1
Q12 Which of the following options best describes your employment
status?
Answered: 532 Skipped: 44
TOTAL 532
Employed,
working...
Employed,
working...
Not employed,
looking for...
Not employed,
NOT looking ...
Retired
Disabled, not
able to work
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%
86%
86%
86%
86%
86%
86%
86%
7%
7%
7%
7%
7%
7%
7%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
6%
6%
6%
6%
6%
6%
6%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES
Employed, working full-time
Employed, working part-time
Not employed, looking for work
Not employed, NOT looking for work
Retired
Disabled, not able to work
13 / 16
Aspen Pitkin County Housing Authority Survey P33
I.
1%3
4%21
15%79
21%112
19%104
14%74
9%48
5%25
2%10
Q13 How much total combined money did all members of your
HOUSEHOLD earn last year?
Answered: 534 Skipped: 42
$0 to $9,999
$10,000 to
$24,999
$25,000 to
$49,999
$50,000 to
$74,999
$75,000 to
$99,999
$100,000 to
$124,999
$125,000 to
$149,999
$150,000 to
$174,999
$175,000 to
$199,999
$200,000 and up
Prefer not to
answer
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
4%
4%
4%
4%
4%
4%
4%
15%
15%
15%
15%
15%
15%
15%
21%
21%
21%
21%
21%
21%
21%
19%
19%
19%
19%
19%
19%
19%
14%
14%
14%
14%
14%
14%
14%
9%
9%
9%
9%
9%
9%
9%
5%
5%
5%
5%
5%
5%
5%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
9%
9%
9%
9%
9%
9%
9%
ANSWER CHOICES RESPONSES
$0 to $9,999
$10,000 to $24,999
$25,000 to $49,999
$50,000 to $74,999
$75,000 to $99,999
$100,000 to $124,999
$125,000 to $149,999
$150,000 to $174,999
$175,000 to $199,999
14 / 16
Aspen Pitkin County Housing Authority Survey P34
I.
2%12
9%46
TOTAL 534
$200,000 and up
Prefer not to answer
15 / 16
Aspen Pitkin County Housing Authority Survey P35
I.
Q14 Do you have any final comments or opinions you would like to share
with APCHA?
Answered: 265 Skipped: 311
16 / 16
Aspen Pitkin County Housing Authority Survey P36
I.
HOA Maintenance Capital
Improvements
Downsizing / Retiring
in Unit
Unit Size /
Capacity
Summary and full comments on
additional pages
Summary and full comments on
additional pages
Summary and full comments on
additional pages
Summary and full comments on
additional pages
Summary and full comments on
additional pages
42 Comments: 1 positive / 9
neutral / 34 negative
48 Comments: 0 positive / 16
neutral / 32 negative
43 Comments: 0 positive / 12
neutral / 31 negative
29 Comments: 0 positive / 18 neutral / 11
negative
40 Comments: 1 positive / 27
neutral / 12 negative
Affordability needs to be considered along 1. There are far more people in employee Currently there are no regulations for Retirees should be allowed to stay in their units, if they Thank you for cracking down on people I am extremely grateful for my employee APCHA has been generally amazing. Increase the home improvement alllcation from what I see in the papers there are issues with Yes, you need to change the way you place APCHA has an opportunity to set up some Protect the buyers and don’t let the sellers It is silly that all units have max $ amount i dont believe that you can have planned for retirement Please construct catagory 3 and 4 single Have more control over Hoa board It is silly that all units have max $ amount Deed restricted HOA's must pay free market we do not want to be force out when we are old, -Build more housing -Require units to be I would recommend not expanding your Deed restricted HOA's must pay free market APCHA should own up to the mistakes You must address the retirement affordable units. Offer need more housing with good access to busMore control over hoa management is from what I see in the papers there are Apcha is a fantastic program, and is why I Allowing preference for downsizing would free up many New units should be a priority...not Woody creek metro board is a mess. No APCHA should own up to the mistakes -Build more housing -Require units to be Retirees contribute to our community. Please retain Spend more time on improvements to All of our lives in Aspen depend on liveable Apcha is a fantastic program, and is why I I’ve been an owner in employee housing for Need retirement Housing.We need more inventory Aspen caractère is New units should be a priority...not I’ve been an owner in employee housing for Please allow us to buy homes that need Please complete Burlingame Phase III. APCHA should It is imperative to either provide more 3 BR My HOAS are ridiculously high - half my All properties should be sold in an, "up to APCHA has to create a component to the A few specifics: 1. I don't understand how 1 million Please complete Burlingame Phase III. APCHA needs to grow a spine and call out What has APCHA done to find a solution for The incentives to get people to upgrade I am very concerned about being able to keep our Focus on more units and preserving and There needs to be continued support from Centennial needs your help, you have Many of the rules are ridiculous and out of I am not in a position to consider downsizing for a while. A few specifics: 1. I don't understand how 1 HOA reserves and deferred maintenance I wish we could address the mold and HOA reserves and deferred maintenance Retirees should be valued and retained in employee Build some 3BRs! I have two kids in a 2 BR I would like to see capital improvement More control over hoa management is I would like to see capital improvement APCHA should participate in ensuring that properties APCHA should participate in ensuring that Dog policies should be relaxed All of our lives in Aspen depend on liveable Our biggest problems with emplyee housing We bought a 1967 trailer in Aspen Village at a We need more buildings in Aspen. Build Please complete Burlingame Phase III. New units should be a priority...not How about if you guys make capital Thanks for the opportunity to provide feedback. This is With the number of families bidding on 3 HOA fees are a real concern, they are There are problems with Radon that needs It is imperative to either provide more 3 BR APCHA is basically not helpful at all and a detriment to Don't bailout owners of their housing for Get real about allowing pets in homes that APCHA has to create a component to the Overall great job. I would like to see easier When an APCHA owner retires, there was some talk 1. Build better quality, basic housing. The Understanding that the affordable housing There needs to be continued support from I have upgraded my unit as it is 28 years old The cap allowed for improvements on our single family Add houses to Aspen Village in the 10 lots I was very disappointed with the quality of Spend more time on improvements to Our unit is 40 years old and requires more Some ideas that would be nice : - more family-type units I realize housing is becoming harder to find Decision making by APCHA is sclerotic. HOA reserves and deferred maintenance Certain complexes the program should NOT Build more affordable housing for sale or rent. There’s APCHA is a program with an impossible Retirees should be valued and retained in Our biggest problems with emplyee housing When I purchased my 1983 mobile home Downsizes. Better job. For retired long time locals at a Build employee housing on the top of the Are there policies in place regarding The deferment of maintenance and inability Retirees should be valued and retained in It would be possible to incentivize owners to better More housing options are necessary. Get control of HOA's. Ours keeps raising I love my apartment, I live at Centennial. Thanks for hiring the Compliance officer, it's Simply put, more units are needed. The senior problem It’s a real shame that there aren’t more Kick mulchahy out of employee housing Focus on more units and preserving and I agree that APCHA gives affordable I think an overall raise in the number of APCHA units is Spend some money and build more housing APCHA should participate in ensuring that Certain complexes the program should NOT APCHA has a very difficult job; The There's been talk in the past of an incentive payment to Some ideas that would be nice : - more APCHA SEEMS TO HAVE NO HELP When I purchased my 1983 mobile home were Currently repairing our 2 bedroom at I do believe that people should be able to retire in Build build build.were Currently repairing our 2 bedroom at I was very disappointed with the quality of RO housing gets no help financially so Allowing more time for seniors to travel and be away I love you guys. You made it possible for APCHA is basically not helpful at all and a Very challenging topic. Thanks for all the APCHA is basically not helpful at all and a My residence has worked out well for me but without Employee housing is family-disincentive. If 1. Build better quality, basic housing. The I agree that APCHA gives affordable Biggest suggestion is to find a better way to APCHA has given us nothing but hassles.
I feel fortunate to have won a unit. It’s a bit APCHA should participate in ensuring that I feel fortunate to have won a unit. It’s a bit I don't have any answers however having 2
Our HOA hasn’t had a meeting in three APCHA has a very difficult job; The The cap allowed for improvements on our More housing is needed. Lookat the traffic Be more helpful with hoa boards when it Our metro does not enforce any rules. I Change rules to include I see a need for affordable housing that are Please enforce or scrap the dog policy at Don't bailout owners of their housing for I think there should be stricter rules for We were going to purchase a unit a few I'm disappointed in our HOA and the city of APCHA is basically not helpful at all and a There should be better structure when it Simply put, more units are needed. The some of the unfairness/infractions of I feel fortunate to have won a unit. It’s a bit Implement incentive program for owners to Our growing family (with 2 full-time, working Stop people scamming the housing system. I think there should be stricter rules for I can’t believe how many units that were I think an overall raise in the number of I love and I am thankful for the program but Add houses to Aspen Village in the 10 lots Reduce substantially the city permit fees on There's been talk in the past of an incentive We'd like to see less crap stored in people's I think there should be a 3rd party rating Basically, you are totally out of touch with Housing units with 3 bedrooms should have Basically, you are totally out of touch with I'm disappointed in our HOA and the city of Need better housing accommodations for
I’m all for dissolving APCHA as it stands There should be better structure when it Residents are not going to keep their units We were going to purchase a unit a few Thanks for working hard on our behalf? My They're rightfully should be radon Apcha needs to stop trying to control They're rightfully should be radon Apcha needs to stop trying to control APCHA needs to be more involved in the We were going to purchase a unit a few It would be possible to incentivize owners to Maintenance requirements!!!APCHA needs to be more involved in the APCHA should assist in paying for issues
P37
I.
Buy / Sell Process
Compliance /
Enforcement
APCHA
Operations APCHA Staff Miscellaneous
Summary and full comments on
additional pages
Summary and full comments on
additional pages
Summary and full comments on
additional pages
Summary and full comments on
additional pages
Summary and full comments on
additional pages
19 Comments: 0 positive / 3
neutral / 16 negative
40 Comments: 8 positive / 12
neutral / 20 negative
83 Comments: 8 positive / 22
neutral / 53 negative
25 Comments: 10 positive / 0
neutral / 15 negative
64 Comments: positive 42 / 11
neutral / 11 negative
1. There are far more people in employee housing who are
responsible, rule-abiding members of the community than not.
I am extremely grateful for my employee housing unit and the
APCHA program. I've been very impressed with the recent
1. There are far more people in employee housing who are
responsible, rule-abiding members of the community than not.
1. There are far more people in employee housing who are
responsible, rule-abiding members of the community than not.
my customers here need me, the ski co uses me full time, my
neighbors are great, And with out APCHA I may have to have Currently there are no regulations for current owners to uphold
their properties. Then someone wins the lottery for a place that
Give the program & staff some teeth to enforce minimum
standards. Get politics out of the process. Stop responding to
Currently there are no regulations for current owners to uphold
their properties. Then someone wins the lottery for a place that
I, although I’m a huge supporter of the affordable housing
program, feel that there has been a somewhat hostile and
I am very happy with my housing situation. Thank you very
much. OliverPeople with higher incomes than the upper limits for a unit are
allowed to purchase the unit. Why is that?
Thank you for cracking down on people breaking the rules.
Focus on low income housing not North 40 mansion projects.
Give the program & staff some teeth to enforce minimum
standards. Get politics out of the process. Stop responding to
continue to beef up enforcement. also it seems that rules
evolve and/or change based on who you speak to at the
APCHA has been generally amazing. Centennial original
construction sucked - noise and leaks. It ain't the wall I have been lucky enough to win two lotteries and go through
the purchase process. Both times the absolute disregard the
It is Worth stopping abuse of program by the few.APCHA has been generally amazing. Centennial original
construction sucked - noise and leaks. It ain't the wall
Great job Mike and staff! Please keep yourselves independent.The more politics are involved the less you will be trusted
Protect the buyers and don’t let the sellers get away with
making 3% on a home that they didn’t take care of. It leaves the
Other communities still continue to look to Aspen to model their
programs after. The new'ish director of housing is taking steps
With the size of the current inventory, APCHA and other
governing bodies need to focus on long-term ownership issues
APCHA has a hard job. It will need continual refinement as the
program matures, and from what I hear, APCHA is tweaking its
Other communities still continue to look to Aspen to model their
programs after. The new'ish director of housing is taking steps If someone does sight unseen lottery and refuses, they should
be banned from future lotteries for 1y
Thank you for cracking down on people breaking the rules.
Focus on low income housing not North 40 mansion projects.
I have been lucky enough to win two lotteries and go through
the purchase process. Both times the absolute disregard the
What has APCHA done to find a solution for Centennial? Why
isn't APCHA taking the lead on the single biggest issue
N/A - I’m pretty happy!
The incentives to get people to upgrade their homes need to
improve. We have lived in our home less than 2 years and had
I, although I’m a huge supporter of the affordable housing
program, feel that there has been a somewhat hostile and
from what I see in the papers there are issues with people
winning APCHA lotteries and finding the unit in bad shape.
housing office staff are great Not at the moment. Thank you. Actually, because of this
program I am able to work, live, and play in this amazing More accountability for those selling units to honor the sellers
contract that they sign. To clean the unit etc. APCHA does not
be open to exceptions. I.e. a resident that has significant
illness, or family members out of area that need assistance.
Yes, you need to change the way you place employees in
categories. I know so many wealthy trust funders living in low
Pam in the office is fantastic and has a great attitude and some
great ideas for APCHA to be better for people that follow the
W/O the program we would not still be living in Aspen. To my
knowledge it’s the best ski town affordable housing program When I purchased my 1983 mobile home (Smuggler Run), I
did it because my daughter and I were in jeopardy of losing our
continue to beef up enforcement. also it seems that rules
evolve and/or change based on who you speak to at the
APCHA should own up to the mistakes made during the initial
stages of the program. APCHA should take responsibility for
Pam in the office is fantastic and has a great attitude and some
great ideas for APCHA to be better for people that follow the
Always city & assistant mgr scapegoating program. I have been
in this program since 1980. I watch and see contradictory I agree that APCHA gives affordable housing, but market
upkeep. I have no problem paying for market upkeep, but you
I would recommend not expanding your control valley wide. You
can barely control the abuses of Aspen and Pitkin county
Thankful to Housing Authority for our family’s opportunity to live
and work and make here our home.
More control over hoa management is needed in some housing
complexes. Rules are selectively enforced and everyday tasks
Thank you!
APCHA has a very difficult job; The program has been
amazing but needs to be re-visioned for the next 40 years.
It is massive undertaking, but I do feel there is unevenness in
the way things go. Some people break rules all the time, and
Apcha is a fantastic program, and is why I am able to live in
Pitkin the bulk of my adult life. I know that people would sell
It has been a great experience and a wonderful opportunity to
live and work in Aspen! Pam is amazing!
If you’re determined to live here it’s possible
Don't bailout owners of their housing for deferred maintenance;
no one bails out free market owners. Don't provide anymore
New units should be a priority...not compliance. Come up with
a plan for HOA maintenance for all properties in system.
APCHA has a hard job. It will need continual refinement as the
program matures, and from what I hear, APCHA is tweaking its
You guys are awesome - thanks for all your hard work and
making Aspen a better place!
Thank you!
The stringent category system coupled with the inability to get a
loan is ridiculous . For example , someone who makes too
APCHA needs to grow a spine and call out owners who are
cheating the system with their "service" animals. Too many
Always city & assistant mgr scapegoating program. I have been
in this program since 1980. I watch and see contradictory
My recent contact to resolve an issue was handled in a quick
and successful manner.
Thanks
Proposition to increase ,buying and selling fees, up to 3% , is
inacceptable!! A $3,000 fees was more than enough, knowing
Spend more time on improvements to infrastructure and
building more rental units. Stop the enforcement emphasis that
If someone does sight unseen lottery and refuses, they should
be banned from future lotteries for 1y We are immensely grateful for the opportunity to buy an
APCHA home; we would not be here, able to raise our family,
So happy I'm able to live in this area and I have you and this
program to thank for that!I think there should be a 3rd party rating system to rate the
condition of units that are being sold & sellers should be
seek out people who are using their housing for personal
financial gain by renting to people who don't qualify as legal
More Respect for Home Owners! Do not treat us like Renters!
STOP violating recognized established Federal Fair Housing
Recent non-compliance sample of 20 by Bethany Spitz
included us. Handled very poorly and in a very threatening
Do a better job
There should be better structure when it comes to rentals. And
not have property management just pick and chose who they
Stop the fraud. Trust funders with employee housing is bullshit.
Taxes returns should be received on a yearly basis. Proof of
I would recommend not expanding your control valley wide. You
can barely control the abuses of Aspen and Pitkin county
Decision making by APCHA is sclerotic. The City Council
needs to be more engaged with the problems with affordable
thank you for providing housing for the workers who want to call
aspen homeMake RO units a lottery system like the rest. Right now you can
only buy one if you know someone who is selling, never listed
Recent non-compliance sample of 20 by Bethany Spitz
included us. Handled very poorly and in a very threatening
What has APCHA done to find a solution for Centennial? Why
isn't APCHA taking the lead on the single biggest issue
This survey is a farce. Under the new executive director,
APCHA has stopped serving the community and has adopted a
Thank you, buying my home was my dream and long time goal
finally reached.I love and I am thankful for the program but it is about to be
stressed beyond governance. Centennial has proven
GET RID OF THE DISHONEST ABUSERS More control over hoa management is needed in some housing
complexes. Rules are selectively enforced and everyday tasks
Julie, Pam and Cindy are fantastic to work with. Thanks!Even though our homes are deed restricted, it is important that
we are afforded the ability to enjoy the rights and pride of Basically, you are totally out of touch with reality. Limit on $$
one can make, the crappy properties that are build lousy and
Enforce employment regulations Woody creek metro board is a mess. No oversight, no
structure, if there was An option for our family with pets to
Every day I am very grateful for my affordable housing. With
that said I have repeatedly notified Julie Kieffer on a few people
Is it allowed for someone to build in Garfield County $85,000
improvement loan to build a single-family home on 10 acres Compliance enforcement is key. I am constantly amazed at the
number of owners who are in non compliance with APCHA
It is massive undertaking, but I do feel there is unevenness in
the way things go. Some people break rules all the time, and
Be more helpful with hoa boards when it comes to how to run
their units. No one at Apcha offers advice. There is no one to
It has been a great experience and a wonderful opportunity to
live and work in Aspen! Pam is amazing!Are there policies in place regarding APCHA ownership and
disciplinary actions for perpetually offending owners? My
I don't see the listings in the Daily News any more. I think it's
important to publicize those, either in the newspaper or the
Office staff is very friendly and helpful Keep up the good work
Thanks for hiring the Compliance officer, it's time to clean up
the program and make it true and fair for all. Additionally, I'd
Many of the rules are ridiculous and out of date. Our house is
30+ years old and it would be cheaper to tear it down and
I think the program is important and has great intentions. It is
becoming overly administrative. Smart regulations are fine, but
Solo-prenuers and remote workers also need affordable office
space.Kick mulchahy out of employee housing already. He is making
a mockery of the program, and emboldening others to also
Dog policies should be relaxed enforcement agents emit the wrong tone for Aspen, especially
when APCHA is over budget
It’s my house and neighbors can suck it!
Keep up the good work on compliance Overall great job. I would like to see easier and more flexible
options for upgrades to owner units. For example, cabinets,
some of the unfairness/infractions of purchase lies within those
working for apcha itself; getting a larger unit because of
I’m not sure what APCHA does for my neighbor hood.
Every day I am very grateful for my affordable housing. With
that said I have repeatedly notified Julie Kieffer on a few people
There has to be some better way then pulling names out of a
hat for the housing lottery. Even if you've been hear for 12
The gals at housing can be really rude. The categories are
rediculous.
I'm am SO grateful for my employee housing!
APCHA should work harder to qualify employees rather than
work so hard to disqualify and exclude locals who have worked
I love my apartment, I live at Centennial. APCHA really has to
make sure the Maintenance is done yearly and not left for years
HOA reserves and deferred maintenance are big problems. My
HOA dues are approaching my mortgage payment with no end If the rules are easily written, the compliance issues should be
easier thus costing less money to operate the association.
I think APCHA is moving in a positive direction and while it will
take some time to improve, it will happen.
I think it is wonderful that you are conducting this survey! Better
lines of communication between the community and APCHA 1. Build better quality, basic housing. The money the City and
my HOA has spent to fix bad construction in my complex is a
Treat your Pitkin County partners with the respect due "equal"
partners. They started the whole program. The city is a bully.
Thank you APCHA for all you do! You are great!
Our HOA hasn’t had a meeting in three years and they refuse
to comply. My neighbor always rents her condo and now only
We are immensely grateful for the opportunity to buy an
APCHA home; we would not be here, able to raise our family,
Thank you!
The impression in the community is that APHCA favors city &
county employees and is not even handed. I know of city &
Stop the fraud. Trust funders with employee housing is bullshit.
Taxes returns should be received on a yearly basis. Proof of
We are immensely grateful for the opportunity to buy an
APCHA home; we would not be here, able to raise our family, Please enforce or scrap the dog policy at Burlingame, everyone
now has a dog. It is so easy to get a support animal certificate
More accountability for those selling units to honor the sellers
contract that they sign. To clean the unit etc. APCHA does not
I was a seasonal worker once, seasonal housing allowed me to
get a foot in the door (Marolt Ranch) and I have since rented I think increased enforcement is critical. There are too many
units not being used according to the rules.
A few specifics: 1. I don't understand how 1 million dollar plus
homes in Burlingame best serves our community. I understand
A few specifics: 1. I don't understand how 1 million dollar plus
homes in Burlingame best serves our community. I understand Stop people scamming the housing system. Abuse is taking
place and abuse of property managangments companies
Get real about allowing pets in homes that are owned (not
rented). Times have changed, let's not use the emotional
Thanks for creating this survey. Keep up the great work!
I love and I am thankful for the program but it is about to be
stressed beyond governance. Centennial has proven
When I purchased my 1983 mobile home (Smuggler Run), I
did it because my daughter and I were in jeopardy of losing our
I’m thankful every day for the affordable housing home I
received!Thank you for starting to police the housing. Abuse of our
system by a some folks was getting A little out of hand. As
Understanding that the affordable housing program and all of
its various designations is a complicated and at times difficult
Very challenging topic. Thanks for all the hard work! My
comment on building defects is related to Burlingame Phase 1 enforcement agents emit the wrong tone for Aspen, especially
when APCHA is over budget
I am not in a position to consider downsizing for a while. but
when that comes, it would be great to create some incentive to
More surveys, please!.. and with even more specific questions
too! Thank you.Allow more funds to investigate fraud. 2 owners in my complex
do not work, or do not work the minimum hours needed to own
I was very disappointed with the quality of my unit. I bought it
brand new but it came with several defects. The "warranty"
Without APCHA the Roaring Fork Valley would not function as
a community. Locals would never be able to live here long term. I know the the APCHA is trying to deal with non compliance
issues. However valid those issues may be, it appears that they
Decision making by APCHA is sclerotic. The City Council
needs to be more engaged with the problems with affordable
APCHA has a very difficult job; The program has been
amazing but needs to be re-visioned for the next 40 years. Need better housing accommodations for the Adult
professionals that live here. That means even those making in
This survey is a farce. Under the new executive director,
APCHA has stopped serving the community and has adopted a
I am a new APCHA homeowner and feel incredibly lucky to live
in my homeKeep working hard finding cheaters Get control of HOA's. Ours keeps raising the fees in what feels
like a nonsustainable way. They also have no governance. As a
Thanks for the opportunity to provide feedback. This is the first
time we’ve been asked to contribute, and it is refreshing. We
APCHA should participate in ensuring that properties are
maintained. Owners should be penalized for not keeping up
Work with the town of Snowmass to create fairness.
Snowmass employees are eligible for APCHA housing however
Thanks for the opportunity to provide feedback. This is the first
time we’ve been asked to contribute, and it is refreshing. We I am SO GRATEFUL
RO housing gets no help financially so should not have any of
your rules! Or you can help pay for infra-structure! It is almost
The only reason my house is part of Apcha is when we
subdivided the location where it is located and Apcha got it's Work with the town of Snowmass to create fairness.
Snowmass employees are eligible for APCHA housing however
Thanks
Don't bailout owners of their housing for deferred maintenance;
no one bails out free market owners. Don't provide anymore
Good survey. You hit the important points.
When an APCHA owner retires, there was some talk about
allowing that owner to leave for 6 months per year thus freeing
so grateful for APCHA and the opportunity to live and work in
Aspen. Thank you! Love Burlingame neighborhood.APCHA acts more like we are there for them rather than they
are helping us.
Fairway III in Snowmass governed by whom? Pitkin County,
APCHA.
think it would be great to allow APCHA home owners to allow a
1 week vacation rental. Many locals have seasonal jobs and Thank you for your hard work. Hang in there. Knowing where
we are starting and what our values are is a great place to start. APCHA should work harder to qualify employees rather than
work so hard to disqualify and exclude locals who have worked
I realize housing is becoming harder to find and a big impact on
that is the VRBO and airBNB properties as well as older homes If the rules are easily written, the compliance issues should be
easier thus costing less money to operate the association.
We are living in our dream affordable house in a wonderfully
realized neighborhood. It took us 22 years to get a home and More opportunities to rent out while away for extended time for
seniors.
Get out of my life. I live in Aspen Village. Pitkin County did not
subsidize Aspen Village one penny. You had no right to make Biggest suggestion is to find a better way to communicate with
owners effectively. I've sent many emails in the past with
I really appreciate the program, it has allowed us to live and
work in this wonderful community. Without it and current free The stringent category system coupled with the inability to get a
loan is ridiculous . For example , someone who makes too
The affordable housing program should be considered a critical
infrastructure to this region. The current program is something APCHA is an excellent program which, unfortunately, was
never reviewed comprehensively by elected or paid
Some ideas that would be nice : - more family-type units such
as townhomes, duplexes, row houses, or modest single family Be more helpful with hoa boards when it comes to how to run
their units. No one at Apcha offers advice. There is no one to
I love you guys. You made it possible for me to raise my family
in Aspen! I came onto housing in 2001 when there was a large Proposition to increase ,buying and selling fees, up to 3% , is
inacceptable!! A $3,000 fees was more than enough, knowing
I wouldn’t be able to work 3 jobs and parent my children without
my housing , I would have had to move out of the valleyThe impression in the community is that APHCA favors city &
county employees and is not even handed. I know of city &
I don't have any answers however having 2 children and a dog
as a single parent here, our options were extremely limited to I realize housing is becoming harder to find and a big impact on
that is the VRBO and airBNB properties as well as older homes
Thanks for all the hard work. I know it’s not easy.
I think the program is important and has great intentions. It is
becoming overly administrative. Smart regulations are fine, but
I know the the APCHA is trying to deal with non compliance
issues. However valid those issues may be, it appears that they APCHA is a program with an impossible task--to make the
unaffordable, affordable. APCHA's task has become even more
We’re grateful for APCHA.
some of the unfairness/infractions of purchase lies within those
working for apcha itself; getting a larger unit because of
Thank you for allowing us to own a beautiful apartment in this
perfect town!!! THANK YOU APCHAThere should be better structure when it comes to rentals. And
not have property management just pick and chose who they
thank you
Make RO units a lottery system like the rest. Right now you can
only buy one if you know someone who is selling, never listed
On question #4, my purchase of APCHA housing was
affordable, today that is not the case. The prices are getting out I love and I am thankful for the program but it is about to be
stressed beyond governance. Centennial has proven
My residence has worked out well for me but without any good
options for downsizing or senior housing I will continue to live in Stop being used as a pawn of our govts elected officials and
staff in order to make them feel morally superior while they Spend some money and build more housing like Annie Mitchell.
Quit waiting for Fornell and do it yourselves. APCHA has plenty The affordable housing program should be considered a critical
infrastructure to this region. The current program is something Some ideas that would be nice : - more family-type units such
as townhomes, duplexes, row houses, or modest single family enforcement agents emit the wrong tone for Aspen, especially
when APCHA is over budgetImplement incentive program for owners to maintain units and
to ensure value of home matches income categoryAPCHA has given us nothing but hassles. Aspen village was
already a subdivision in reality, since the mid 1960’s. We were Reduce substantially the city permit fees on any capital
improvement or maintenance item requiring a permit.Basically, you are totally out of touch with reality. Limit on $$
one can make, the crappy properties that are build lousy and Support community involvement Lessen Employment as a
service to the community Quit supporting employers with I know the the APCHA is trying to deal with non compliance
issues. However valid those issues may be, it appears that they The gals at housing can be really rude. The categories are
rediculous.I’m all for dissolving APCHA as it stands now. They are full of
headstrong leaders who put ego before empathy. They refused Apcha needs to stop trying to control Smuggler Park which it
keeps I assisting is Affordable housing but which technically is I think you should have board members who are citizens of the
awesome community to guide, assist, and support the vision.I do believe that people should be able to retire in employee
housing. If people have put in the time to serve this community, Allowing more time for seniors to travel and be away from their
units.Need better housing accommodations for the Adult
professionals that live here. That means even those making in More transparency please
P38
I.
HOA
Summary: Majority of comments around enforcing HOA policies. Many homeowners want APCHA to be a part
of their HOA process/decision making. Homeowners are not pleased with general HOA governance.
Affordability needs to be considered along with the HOA dues people pay monthly. These are extremely high
where we live and are getting closer to what we pay for our mortgage.
I am extremely grateful for my employee housing unit and the APCHA program. I've been very impressed with
the recent focus on compliance & people scamming the system and think that is so important and should
continue. I do really think that the HOA issue has major room for improvement though. Capital Reserve Funds
in HOA's is the only way to hold all owners somewhat accountable towards necessary improvements and
maintaining units and it's a little crazy that APCHA doesn't even know if all the units have an HOA. I realize this
would be a major undertaking and could not happen quickly but my opinion is APCHA should manage all
HOA's.
I would recommend not expanding your control valley wide. You can barely control the abuses of Aspen and
Pitkin county housing. I live in RO housing. Two units have been sold at AABC Rowhouses with the owner s not
living here during the first two years. Also the owners have over the $900k of assents allowed. The HOA also
doesn't have exterior structure insurance and very low reserve funds. If and when we sell our unit, we will have
to lie to the buyers as we were lied to when we bought the structure. I feel, instead of patting yourselves on the
back and considering expanding your reach, you should concentrate on controlling the corruption that already
exists in your system.
More control over hoa management is needed in some housing complexes. Rules are selectively enforced and
everyday tasks are overlooked and ignored (i.e. snow removal, parking, common area light timers off schedule,
etc.) Walkthrough procedures with housing sale inconsistant. When we moved in to current location, house was
a disaster, food still in fridge and cupboards, carpet nasty, cat hair everywhere (no pets allowed). When I
contacted apcha about said issues I was told "well if you don't want the place we can put it back on the market
or give it to the next person."
Woody creek metro board is a mess. No oversight, no structure, if there was An option for our family with pets
to move to suitable housing we would in a second. This metro district has been a nightmare for the 14 years we
have lived here with no end in sight. Some kind of oversight from a governmental body would be awesome.
All of our lives in Aspen depend on liveable and sustainable housing. If our housing was built incorrectly, has
lack of maintenance due to funding from HOAs, and with volunteer HOA boards that can’t help fix their
buildings due to being under law suit, the City and APCHA need to step up to the plate and help their owners.
Many of our owner housing options are under law suite for poor construction, maintenance, and know
problems. This issues aren’t being addressed and managed on a practical timeline. I was denied by every bank
in town due Centennial being under law suit. Finally got a ARM loan which will only goes up and up every year
because our Centennial Housing is under law suit. We need help fixing the buildings that APCHA and the city
of aspen provide for us. Employee housing is the best! Please help keep employees in Aspen and help fix their
homes. Otherwise there won’t be anymore employees to work/life in the valley. I’ve been here for 12 years and
95% of my friend have left due to high housing costs. If we don’t have quality employee housing we won’t have
a work force to sustain this great Ski town!
New units should be a priority...not compliance. Come up with a plan for HOA maintenance for all properties in
system.
My HOAS are ridiculously high - half my mortgage. As a single parent with 2 kids it ensures I live pay cheque to
pay cheque.
APCHA needs to grow a spine and call out owners who are cheating the system with their "service" animals.
Too many owners are full of shit when it comes to this, they have pets, not service dogs.
There needs to be continued support from APCHA for aging projects. There should be rewards programs for
those HOAs who have been able to reasonably maintain their properties and have reasonable Reserve
account savings. Conversely, there should be penalties for those who have neglected their properties and
failed to put any money into reserve accounts. People need to re alize that the property must be kept up, not
just for the current inhabitants, but more so for future inhabitants.
HOA reserves and deferred maintenance are big problems. My HOA dues are approaching my mortgage
payment with no end in site. Poor construction of our complex has resulted in crumbling common areas that are
P39
I.
too expensive to fix. There is no incentive to make improvements when we are being governed by CPI
valuation increases. I feel lucky to live here but at the same time, I often think we have made a mistake buying
into subsidized housing. The future is grim.
I would like to see capital improvement policies improved. It is unfortunate to be tied to only the improvements
made by the original owner because of the caps on capital improvement. It seems if a resident is allowed to
improve the structure (as, perhaps, the second owner of the home,) your properties would be in better shape
upon transfer. I also think HOAs should be forced to use local attorneys if necessary, and as little as possible. I
wish APCHA would support the original docs, and if a board is not following what was established in the rules
and regs, a homeowner would not have to resort to an attorney at all to make sure his/her HOA board is
compliant.
Dog policies should be relaxed
Please complete Burlingame Phase III. APCHA should require all current and future housing developments to
have 80% of the required or more capital reserved and reserving. All capital reserves should be updated every
5 years and must be completed by an APCHA approved specialist. APCHA should be able to receive and
review this report and current financials. There needs to be a path both APCHA owners to get priority to
downsize their unit at or before retirement. I know of many people that would like to move into a smaller unit but
don't want to run into a compliance issue. We should provide a clear path for individuals to downsize.
HOA fees are a real concern, they are constantly being increased and are nearly the cost of your mortgage. It’s
suppposed to be “affordable” housing but when you are having to pay nearly $450 every month just for HOA
alone it’s a real struggle, especially when you are a single mother.
Get real about allowing pets in homes that are owned (not rented). Times have changed, let's not use the
emotional support animal "work around" for decades to come.
Understanding that the affordable housing program and all of its various designations is a complicated and at
times difficult program to administer (and notwithstanding how grateful I am for it), I would like to see APCHA
undertake a stronger education role in overseeing the program than an adversarial one. Strongly stressing the
governing documents of the relevant HOA to a buyer along with APCHA's guidelines and compliance rules
might help prevent unnecessary brain damage and hostility for all parties concerned in the future. Stressing
positively early on what is expected of a new homeowner and perhaps establishing contact with the new
homeowner's HOA board to also encourage educating that individual on the HOA governing documents might
eliminate possible confusion and non-compliance later on. The information "burden" should be shared by all
entities. Thank you.
I was very disappointed with the quality of my unit. I bought it brand new bu t it came with several defects. The
"warranty" program administered thru the city of Aspen does not work well. Several requests and lots of time
has passed and not all issues have been resolved yet. Last but not least, the property management at
Burlingame Ranch is awful. Inefficient, unresponsive and entitled. Nothing gets done and there seems to be a
lot confusion about roles and responsibility between the HOA and management. Overall chaotic and
disappointing. Lots can be improved.
Decision making by APCHA is sclerotic. The City Council needs to be more engaged with the problems with
affordable housing. Barry Crook acts as a barrier between APCHA and City Council and between homeowners
and City Council. City Council gives him directives that he ignores. Amazing that HOA's actually have to
engage in lawsuits in order to get any action. Pathetic.
Retirees should be valued and retained in employee housing. Many are essential long term community
members who contribute volunteerism, participation in local even ts and politics, and wisdom. Loosen the
restrictions on RO housing. Value caps should include reasonable ability to add value through maintenance,
and reasonable improvements and finishing out property. Consider modifying or scrapping the sliding scale cap
based on urban wage workers CPI. Individuals paying fixed mortgages shouldn't be punished based on a low
CPI during ownership or at time of sale. Add transparency by adding a link to the current CPI index increase
during any month and by adding an algorithm on APCHA website where owners can insert their purchase
value, length of ownership, type of deed restriction and calculate their value (CPI increase) at any time. This is
not easy for an employee to figure out on his/her own. Thank you for providing employee housing HOAs with
assessment enforcement assistance. Please publish all unwritten APCHA rules and policies so employee
housing owners receive fair and equal treatment and can understand how they will be applied.
Are there policies in place regarding APCHA ownership and disciplinary actions for perpetually offending
owners? My particular neighbor is a hoarder and she has an unruly, unsupervised teenage son who has
caused neighborhood destruction. Can those owners be forced to sell?
P40
I.
Get control of HOA's. Ours keeps raising the fees in what feels like a nonsustainable way. They also have no
governance. As a new homeowner is a pretty unfair situation to walk into as our HOA consists of our neighbors.
It would be better if APCHA hired 3rd party HOAs for every housing property.
Kick mulchahy out of employee housing already. He is making a mockery of the program, and emboldening
others to also ignore the rules. His piece of crap truck looks like junk parked sideways across the sidewalk
leaking oil leaving permanent marks in the cement. The rest of the junk that he calls art just clutters up the
neighborhood. Also in Burlingame, last year a letter to homeowners was circulated about cleaning up the
common area sidewalk/porches between units. Then, not only was there no enforcement, but when I asked
about it I was told "we were directed actually not to enforce that". Another shining example of incompetence for
enforcing rules already in the HOA.
APCHA should participate in ensuring that properties are maintained. Owners should be penalized for not
keeping up their homes when it comes time to sell. HOAs should undergo yearly inspections by an APCHA
agent to confirm that they are maintaining shared infrastructure appropriately. APCHA/City of Aspe n should be
banking land close to the urban center for future housing development or open space reserves (why didn't they
buy the USFS land?!) Kicking workers out of units upon retirement does not support a healthy community.
APCHA board should remain comprised of dedicated community members, not elected officials, and should be
given more authority/decision-making power than they currently have.
APCHA SEEMS TO HAVE NO HELP REGARDING WOODY CREEK PLAZA COVENENTS
were Currently repairing our 2 bedroom at 516 Vine St. The process has been lengthy to say the least. The
HOA is slow to understand and resolve the environmental and energy deficiencies in the property. The current
system lacks the capital necessary to encourage a energy efficient and healthy built environment. This puts the
health of occupants at risk as well as contributing to unnecessary carbon pollution and high energy costs. The
repairs necessary can easily exceed the capital appriceation limits which is a discouraging incentive for HOAs
and individuals.CORE is helpful in providing education and rebates for energy but there’s a gap when it comes
to a healthier indoor environment yet the two go closely together.specifically “ air tightness “ as it relates to
energy usage and indoor air quality. Current design standards address these issues but the older housing
stock is in need of a solution. I am hoping to complete the repair of my deed restricted home soon and
hopefully live in a safer more energy efficient unit. It will undoubtedly cost more than I will receive in
appreciation or energy savings but I believe it is the right way to go. That’s the blessing and the curse of
“affordable “ housing.
APCHA is basically not helpful at all and a detriment to employee housing at this point. We have tried to use
their help in the collection of default homeowners dues for our HOA, no help. They said they have avenues to
help, but don't. I do not understand why homeowners are not incentivized to invest in their home to make them
more energy efficient. Homeowners do not want to spend any money updating their homes because they are
not allowed to get that money out of them. The percentage of capital improvements allowed should increase
with the length of time someone is in the home, so they can make sense spendi ng money upgrading
windows/floors/appliances, etc. It is no wonder APCHA receives units back in poor condition. Finaly APCHA
should incentivize people to downsize by increasing allowable income/asset to those people already in the
system, to open up larger homes for those with new families. It hurts no one to change that rule for those who
already have employee housing.
1. Build better quality, basic housing. The money the City and my HOA has spent to fix bad construction in my
complex is a total joke! 2. Enforce the housing rules, I know several owners who have or are currently openly
breaking the general housing rules and they know the chances of getting caught is slim to none. 3. Make sure
the HOA's are operated correctly and that the HOA rules are being enforced along with all city and state laws
and codes are being enforced at the properties.
I feel fortunate to have won a unit. It’s a bit irritating to know that due to the age of the complex bigger
maintence issues will be happening and that my HOA is probably not prepared for this and some long time
residents have gained financially by not paying their fair share. I’m stuck inheriting their financial contribution
shortcomings. I’d also suggest coming up with a modified tag line instead of “AH is a pri vilege not a right”. I
work full time, I follow APCHA’s rules, and maintain my unit well....it comes off a bit condescending.
Our HOA hasn’t had a meeting in three years and they refuse to comply. My neighbor always rents her condo
and now only had to work part time. Complaints aren’t followed up or I’m told it’s not their problem.
Be more helpful with hoa boards when it comes to how to run their units. No one at Apcha offers advice. There
is no one to turn to when boards need guidance
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Please enforce or scrap the dog policy at Burlingame, everyone now has a dog. It is so easy to get a support
animal certificate online, and it’s getting abused. Also can we please set up a dog go to area around phase 2
for people to take their dogs to the bathroom, as lots of children play on the grass areas and just cleaning dog
poop of the grass doesn’t clean the grass and dogs peeing anywhere and then kids playing. It would be nice to
have a designated area for all pets to do its business.
I'm disappointed in our HOA and the city of aspen for not taking care of the buildings. we have invest a lot of $
in our unit and the building is falling apart.
some of the unfairness/infractions of purchase lies within those working for apcha itself; getting a larger unit
because of falsifications on applying. In a small town it is difficult to keep personalities out of decision -making
by the apcha department and/or individual condo assoc., so perhaps hire a person who is the director of each
assoc. who oversees the running of each complex? Also, the current attorney hired by apcha is a real joke -
totally inept in implementing and showing the proper behavior and decisions of a legally trained individual!
Stop people scamming the housing system. Abuse is taking place and abuse of property managangments
companies toward homeowners .
I love and I am thankful for the program but it is about to be stressed beyond governance. Centennial has
proven contributions to HOA’s are inadequate. I’m sick of living in fear. Fear that my complex will have a major
assessment. Fear that if I have a partner and stay at their house my neighbors will say I don’t live in my unit. If I
take work down valley or elsewhere temporarily to supplement my income I fear I’ll be turned in for
noncompliance. I wish I could buy my unit out right. I would pay alot more than its value under the deed
restrictions. If you are going to ask us to invest in our housing I believe it would be best if you made some
concessions as well.
We'd like to see less crap stored in people's covered parking/carport areas in Burlingame Phase 1.
Basically, you are totally out of touch with reality. Limit on $$ one can make, the crappy properties that are build
lousy and then to e pact owners to pay ridiculous HOA fees to try to maintain sub standard buildings. Then
owners have to sink so much money in and you wouldn’t put on the resale price and then you take a
commission. Basically, blood suckers!
I’m all for dissolving APCHA as it stands now. They are full of headstrong lea ders who put ego before empathy.
They refused to help us as homeowners while our HOA abused us and showed zero aptitude for how they
could have been better. Shameful. Ron Erickson illegally manages HOA’s without the proper certifications from
the State of Colorado. Nobody cares though...
We were going to purchase a unit a few years ago but there were problems with code and health issues.
APCHA did not care about the issue and stated they would just sell to the next person. This engenders a
horrible culture that is not sustainable. The aging pool of units are about to have major issues and many HOAs
will not be able to handle the burden causing huge problems. The quality of the buildings also needs to be
addressed for current and any future development. There are units with mold, without proper insulation , with
poor materials and design. There is a need for more family housing. A shift in the management and general
culture of the department is desperately needed in order to maintain the vitality of the housi ng program.
Apcha needs to stop trying to control Smuggler Park which it keeps I assisting is Affordable housing but which
technically is not since it does not conform to the definitions of RO housing and has no cap on income, owning
other properties, appreciation, work requirements, etc etc
APCHA needs to be more involved in the governance/home owner associations of its inventory. The current
system is a recipe for failure. APCHA has a vested interest in the maintenance of its inventory and it must be
more directly involved.
P42
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Maintenance
Summary: Majority of comments around deferred maintenance and how it is now creating a large problem
with sales units. Comments about poor quality of build/materials used in APCHA contruction. Mentions of the
how Centennial has gotten to the current lawsuit.
1. There are far more people in employee housing who are responsible, rule -abiding members of the
community than not. Please recognize this. 2. The extremely poor build quality of the units is the biggest
reason capital reserves are low, not irresponsibility of homeowners. When you are fixing siding and roofs five or
ten years into the life of your complex, you are spending money that should be in the bank for 20 more years or
more. If you build quality units now, you will help save money in the long run. 3. Pegging appreciation to CPI
and then charging a 3 percent sales fee means that in some cases you are wipin g out more than three years of
appreciation. That's not right. Since the city is not spending its housing dollars, ask them for funding, don't take
3 percent from a homeowner who is seeing less than 1 percent appreciation per year. 4. ANyone who calls the
housing office with a question or a concern is often confronted with a culture of "no!" Employee housing owners
are not the enemy and the housing office is not their overlords. You serve the community. We ARE the
community. 5. You have front and center on your website that "employee housing is a privilege, not a right." But
employee housing owners and renters do HAVE rights. You expect them to act like responsible owners, but
there's an implication that they're living in their units at your discretion. That kind of demeaning attitude is why
people are so reluctant to take your surveys. They don't completely trust you. Build that trust. You're all good
people trying to do the right thing. That really came through at the last meeting you had to explain capital
improvements and permitting. There was a clear attitude of, "We're here to help you." It was nice. Keep that up!
APCHA has been generally amazing. Centennial original construction sucked - noise and leaks. It ain't the wall
maintenance - walls should just need paint. Mold was discovered in ?95?
Protect the buyers and don’t let the sellers get away with making 3% on a home that they didn’t take care of. It
leaves the buyers to clean up their mess if they even have the money to do so. It doesn’t matter if there are 80
people bidding on a unit, the winner should not be forced to buy an expensive pig sty to be able to live here.
It is silly that all units have max $ amount for improvements. Units need repairs, updates etc. and people aren’t
doing them because they know they won’t get their money back.
Deed restricted HOA's must pay free market prices for materials and services for capital improvements yet are
restricted to less than free market rates of appreciation? It is our opinion that APCHA and/or the C ity should
assist Deed Restricted HOA's in resolving this inequity.
from what I see in the papers there are issues with people winning APCHA lotteries and finding the unit in bad
shape. APCHA should not have drawings on units that are not move in ready. a lso, APCHA housing should be
for people working in the valley who have low to moderate incomes. there are a lot of large expensive homes in
the inventory. the need for smaller units for single people and for low to moderate income families is more
important than subsidizing those who have large incomes. this is for both rental and owner units.
APCHA should own up to the mistakes made during the initial stages of the program. APCHA should take
responsibility for the lack of planning for the aging units and the lack of foresight for residents improving units.
As the "middle-man" in the buying/selling scenario, APCHA can't take the money and run away from the other
financial aspects of the transaction like it historically has done. The demand for housing has b een high from the
beginning which created a system where there is no room for a lottery winner to remedy situations (inspections,
interior improvements and structural problems) that a normal homebuyer has the option to remedy prior to
closing. Historically, lottery winners have been forced to buy for better or worse because there are no other
choices. City Council and APSCHA have utterly failed to recognize that reality. They deny any responsibility
(even though the money goes into their coffers at each sale). Both entities refuse to address the toughest
problems. They're happy with building the inventory and depositing the checks.
Apcha is a fantastic program, and is why I am able to live in Pitkin the bulk of my adult life. I know that people
would sell their units and move somewhere else if they could afford to.any incentive to be able to sell move and
open up housing that is desperately needed. Instead what happens is housing that needs repair is being sold,
sometimes repairs are taken out of sale. I don't believe you should be financially penalized for owning an apcha
home. Whether it's in Woody Creek, n 40, or centennial. Affordability of necessary repairs to homes has to be
part of apcha. A drowning person needs a lifeline.
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I’ve been an owner in employee housing for over 10 years; without the subsidized housing I probably wouldn’t
be living in Aspen. The system works but it’s in great need of updates for this day and age. We got “lucky” to
win a fixer upper and are stuck with major expenses and repairs because of neglect and the system failing to
keep up. Please be proactive and listen to those of us that are benefitting but suffering in the housing system.
We are repairing and restoring inventory that’s technically government property and the system is n’t making it
easy. We live in “affordable” housing yet are expected to shell out $10s of thousands of dollars in repairs and
upkeep. Thanks for your efforts to keep this system updated.H41-Build more housing -Require units to be built
instead of allowing expensive construction projects off the hook with mitigation fees -Require ADU/CDU units to
be occupied by local workforce/retirees -Increase building department fees to pay for units/capital
funds/maintenance -Build senior housing -Require CoA and PitCo to build a certain number of units each year,
using land that already own. Each year costs of construction increase, the longer they wait, the less likely it will
occur -Align actual costs of construction with mitigation fees -Do not rely on public/private partnerships -Build
playgrounds in affordable housing areas -Build livable, flexible units with storage that accommodates gear for
mountain living -Do not allow the political cycle to influence APCHA goals -Do not allow the purveyors of
overpriced real estate and opinions of their owners to cloud thinking as is relates to those that “serve” them
All properties should be sold in an, "up to code", condition.
What has APCHA done to find a solution for Centennial? Why isn't APCHA taking the lead on the single
biggest issue confronting it? I'm not a Centennial homeowner, but it is the elephant in the room. This needs to
be addressed to show the executive leadership of APCHA is good enough for the challenges that lie ahea d.
Centennial needs your help, you have turned a blind eye to the terrible construction of the building, which has
caused misery and sickness to many residents!
I wish we could address the mold and sweaty windows.
More control over hoa management is needed in some housing complexes. Rules are selectively enforced and
everyday tasks are overlooked and ignored (i.e. snow removal, parking, common area light timers off schedule,
etc.) Walkthrough procedures with housing sale inconsistant. When we moved into current location, house was
a disaster, food still in fridge and cupboards, carpet nasty, cat hair everywhere (no pets allowed). When I
contacted apcha about said issues I was told "well if you don't want the place we can put it back on the market
or give it to the next person."
All of our lives in Aspen depend on liveable and sustainable housing. If our housing was built incorrectly, has
lack of maintenance due to funding from HOAs, and with volunteer HOA boards that can’t help fix their
buildings due to being under law suit, the City and APCHA need to step up to the plate and help their owners.
Many of our owner housing options are under law suite for poor construction, maintenance, and know
problems. This issues aren’t being addressed and managed on a practical timeline. I was denied by every bank
in town due Centennial being under law suit. Finally got a ARM loan which will only goes up and up every year
because our Centennial Housing is under law suit. We need help fixing the buildings that APCHA and th e city
of aspen provide for us. Employee housing is the best! Please help keep employees in Aspen and help fix their
homes. Otherwise there won’t be anymore employees to work/life in the valley. I’ve been here for 12 years and
95% of my friend have left due to high housing costs. If we don’t have quality employee housing we won’t have
a work force to sustain this great Ski town!
New units should be a priority...not compliance. Come up with a plan for HOA maintenance for all properties in
system.
There are problems with Radon that needs to taken care of in Hunter Creek Phase 2
APCHA has to create a component to the program to deal with the maintenance of the buildings. It's not right
that the purchase price is subsidized yet the maintenance has to be paid for at free market prices, which, in
Aspen are above average compared to any normal city in the US. And, when we do capital
improvements/replacements (new roofs, boilers, etc) we should get a bump in our valuation equal to what it
cost each of us to do it.
There needs to be continued support from APCHA for aging projects. There should be rewards programs for
those HOAs who have been able to reasonably maintain their properties and have reasonable Reserve
account savings. Conversely, there should be penalties for those who have neglected their properties and
failed to put any money into reserve accounts. People need to realize that the property must be kept up, not
just for the current inhabitants, but more so for future inhabitants.
Spend more time on improvements to infrastructure and building more rental units. Stop the enforcement
emphasis that I've seen increasing. Try to not listen to the younger "entitled" complainers.
P44
I.
HOA reserves and deferred maintenance are big problems. My HOA dues are approaching my mortgage
payment with no end in site. Poor construction of our complex has resulted in crumbling common areas that are
too expensive to fix. There is no incentive to make improvements when we are being governed by CPI
valuation increases. I feel lucky to live here but at the same time, I often think we have made a mistake buying
into subsidized housing. The future is grim.
Our biggest problems with emplyee housing have been with quality issues... both with design and constructio n.
We have had to shoulder more than $50,000 of costs to repair roofs on our building that had major construction
defects (that were hidden from view until revealed by soft, rotted structural members and standing water inside
the roof space). We expect to bear further costs when spalling concrete on our porches starts to wear toward
the insides of garage floors (at which time we will need to re-do this concrete for all four units), and we expect
to bear more costs when walls and garage doors degrade due to repeated water exposure and soaking from
the fact that our garages have no floor drains (we are managing as best we can with floor squeegies and other
maintenance every time we park a snowy car inside... but it is a flaw that will lead to repairs that coul d have
been totally unnecessary if the builder had simply included floor drains). Our driveway is curved and has an
uphill grade; it could have been a straight, flat driveway, but putting in the curve made it so our free market
neighbors see a screen of landscaping trees instead of a view toward our parking area and porches. This is
nice privacy for us, but it makes our driveway a hazardous situation in winter. Things like this bother me
because while we are fortunate to have employee housing, we also have to deal with various silly features that
end up making the housing unaffordable in the long run.
The deferment of maintenance and inability to make proper investments without losing money is critical to
current homeowners success and happiness as well as future homeowners.
I love my apartment, I live at Centennial. APCHA really has to make sure the Maintenance is done yearly and
not left for years and years....
Focus on more units and preserving and improving existing housing
Certain complexes the program should NOT have been issued a Certificate of Occupancy - Period! In some
cases, the quality and design of the buildings are so dismal (i.e. interior materials being used on the exterior of
buildings - The Bavarian, one example) has caused many for-sale units to deteriorate MANY times faster than
a typical free market home. Local HOAs cannot keep up with the rate of deterioration. This situation, coupled
with the fact that personal investment in sale units cannot be recouped, has severely compromised the upkeep,
safety, and aesthetics of workforce housing complexes throughout Aspen and Pitkin County - as they all too
quickly become a blemish to the otherwise attractive urban fabric of our community. Sadly, workforce housing
is one of the worst and costly personal investments a local family can make!
When I purchased my 1983 mobile home (Smuggler Run), I did it because my daughter and I were in jeopardy
of losing our Truscott apartment and it was the best option for us at the time. I was thrilled that I won the
housing lottery, I still am. However, the inspection came back with several items needed and I was told that I
could either take it or leave it because someone would and that there was no room for negotiation. I was forced
to pay more than the home was worth. The sellers were able to live in a home, never maintain it or handle any
issues and then move out getting full price for the home. I found out a month after I had purchased the home
that I owned a retaining wall (NEVER DISCLOSED) and that is was in serious need of repair or it could
collapse. The cost would be $30K. I then had to replace the roof which is not a cheap ticket item (due to leaks),
the radon needed mitigated, the windows were cracked and needed new glass, the dryer they left caught on
fire, there were two gas leaks (one in the furnace and one in a line to the house), they left tons of personal
items I had to remove off of the property, the walls and floors were saturated heavily with smoke and had to be
painted and replaced, the roof had leaked and caused significant mold and water damage to the water heater
closet, the house still needs new siding/to be painted as it is molding and falling off the sides, the gutters all
need replaced, the front door has settled and there is a huge air gap and needs to be rebuilt. The costs are
SIGNIFICANT and also the reason the other trailers are not being maintained. Something has to be done about
this. These homes need to be restructured ASAP. This is not the way that these homes should be maintained
or the way that to treat the buyers. Yes, back when they were new, sure...it worked, but these need to be
restructured immediately. The buyers need the ability to make these repairs and the means to do so, you
cannot just put them in inhabitable homes and tell them to take it or leave it. It is not good business and I do not
believe any of you would want to be treated that way. Mobile homes need to be RO. They need to be looked at
individually because some need more repairs than oth ers and these are not all just units within the same
complex with the same walls and same structures and equipment. Thank you.
P45
I.
I was very disappointed with the quality of my unit. I bought it brand new but it came with several defects. The
"warranty" program administered thru the city of Aspen does not work well. Several requests and lots of time
has passed and not all issues have been resolved yet. Last but not least, the property management at
Burlingame Ranch is awful. Inefficient, unresponsive and entitled. Nothing gets done and there seems to be a
lot confusion about roles and responsibility between the HOA and management. Overall chaotic and
disappointing. Lots can be improved.
Very challenging topic. Thanks for all the hard work! My comment on building defects is related to Burlingame
Phase 1 ending up in litigation and Phase 2 just voted to pursue legal means if necessary to remedy seven
figure issues that none of the owners had any part in the process. I think the development oversight process is
flawed.
I agree that APCHA gives affordable housing, but market upkeep. I have no problem paying for market upkeep,
but you need to be assured that you'll be reimbursed at market level. For example: our windows were 30 years
old so we paid over $15,000 because we NEEDED new windows, but that is already over our cap if we go to
sell a unit we've lived in for 8+ years. We also need to start looking at new siding and a new rough. Regular
maintenance for depreciating single family units either need a new category such as RO or need to have the
caps increased for market resale. Also, the process of RO homes NEED to be on a lottery basis. The fact that
it's "who you know" and how much you can pay defeats the purpose of APCHA. It should be the same process
for all categories.
APCHA should participate in ensuring that properties are maintained. Owners should be penalized for not
keeping up their homes when it comes time to sell. HOAs should undergo yearly inspections by an APCHA
agent to confirm that they are maintaining shared infrastructure appropriately. APCHA/City of Aspen should be
banking land close to the urban center for future housing development or open space reserves (why didn't they
buy the USFS land?!) Kicking workers out of units upon retirement does no t support a healthy community.
APCHA board should remain comprised of dedicated community members, not elected officials, and should be
given more authority/decision-making power than they currently have.
APCHA has a very difficult job; The program has been amazing but needs to be re-visioned for the next 40
years. Things have changed ( not telling you anything) and the housing needs to remain viable for owners and
renters. Addressing upkeep of units by owners and financial returns available is critical fo r keeping units in
working order. Perhaps in the purchase agreements, from now forward, there could be an upgrade and
inspection requirement. Standard upgrades( painting every X years/ new appliances(?? etc) every X years and
the dates are firm for upgrades- regardless of turn over and ownership- If a new owner upgrades sooner then
that sets a new starting date. If new appliances etc (values) can be depreciated then the upgrades can be
afforded more easily by the owners ( works like free market value with r egard to the upgrades- flooring,
appliances, cabinets, doors- permanent things should be depreciated.Paint etc. probably should not be
depreciated ( is there a way to lower labor cost if an APCHA approved contractor is chosen???). That would be
helpful too and could save APCHA $ in the long run if homes are maintained and valued at the MAX( thus the
transaction recovery at sale is greater).
Our metro does not enforce any rules. I would like to have help from somewhere
Don't bailout owners of their housing for deferred maintenance; no one bails out free market owners. Don't
provide anymore employee housing as it fuels growth; let employers figure out how they will house employees.
APCHA is basically not helpful at all and a detriment to employee housing at this point. We have tried to use
their help in the collection of default homeowners dues for our HOA, no help. They said they have avenues to
help, but don't. I do not understand why homeowners are not incentivized to invest in their home to make them
more energy efficient. Homeowners do not want to spend any money updating their homes because they are
not allowed to get that money out of them. The percentage of capital improvements allowed should increase
with the length of time someone is in the home, so they can make sense spending money upgrading
windows/floors/appliances, etc. It is no wonder APCHA receives units back in poor condition. Finaly APCHA
should incentivize people to downsize by increasing allowable income/asset to those people already in th e
system, to open up larger homes for those with new families. It hurts no one to change that rule for those who
already have employee housing.
I feel fortunate to have won a unit. It’s a bit irritating to know that due to the age of the complex bigger
maintence issues will be happening and that my HOA is probably not prepared for this and some long time
residents have gained financially by not paying their fair share. I’m stuck inheriting their financial co ntribution
shortcomings. I’d also suggest coming up with a modified tag line instead of “AH is a privilege not a right”. I
work full time, I follow APCHA’s rules, and maintain my unit well....it comes off a bit condescending.
P46
I.
I think there should be stricter rules for maintenance on the units. When I purchased my unit the person selling
admitted they hadn't done any maintenance in 8 years and it showed. I was unable to get any compensation for
broken or missing things in the unit and had to take the unit as it was or go back to the lottery to wait until I won
again (and how knows how long that could take, since I was in 18 lotteries before I won my poorly maintained
unit). Very frustrating that there is no accountability for maintenance.
Add houses to Aspen Village in the 10 lots they have available. Make people maintain houses they live in.
I think there should be a 3rd party rating system to rate the condition of units that are being sold & sellers
should be penalized for not keeping units up to certain standards.
I'm disappointed in our HOA and the city of aspen for not taking care of the buildings. we have invest a lot of $
in our unit and the building is falling apart.
There should be better structure when it comes to rentals. And not have property m anagement just pick and
chose who they want in in big complexes like centennial for example. Let’s have a fair list. Also, sellers should
have a guideline of the minimum standard to sell their place. They shouldn’t be able to sell places with broken
roofs and/or appliances and get credit for it, just like buyer should expect a minimum standards when buying.
Thanks for working hard on our behalf? My big concern is that while I live in affordable housing I pay real world
pricing for maintenance without reaping any of the rewards for home ownership when it is time to sell. The 3%
per year profit is an absolute myth in that the CPI has been lower for years. I take great pride in my unit which
is a very small property with only a few units and spend a lot of mon ey and energy maintaining the outside. I
could easily let it fall into disprepair as these improvements will go un reimbursed. I don't know the solution but
it upsets me that the money I spend being a good neighbor and resident is totally out of my own poc ket. If it
was free market I would be doing this anyways but the understanding would be that I would possibly pay myself
back when selling. Thanks for your time!
They're rightfully should be radon mitigations on all new projects that the city builds. Also carpeting upstairs
units, especially now that everyone's cute esa puppies are turning into big dogs with no place to run.
We were going to purchase a unit a few years ago but there were problems with code and health issues.
APCHA did not care about the issue and stated they would just sell to the next person. This engenders a
horrible culture that is not sustainable. The aging pool of units are about to have major issues and many HOAs
will not be able to handle the burden causing huge problems. The qualit y of the buildings also needs to be
addressed for current and any future development. There are units with mold, without proper insulation , with
poor materials and design. There is a need for more family housing. A shift in the management and general
culture of the department is desperately needed in order to maintain the vitality of the housing program.
It would be possible to incentivize owners to better maintain domicile as well as move on at retirement without
using the metaphorical stick with punishm ent
Maintenance requirements!!!
APCHA needs to be more involved in the governance/home owner associations of its inventory. The current
system is a recipe for failure. APCHA has a vested interest in the maintenance of its inventory and it must be
more directly involved.
APCHA should assist in paying for issues that affect health and safety in owned units under their deed
restriction like high levels of radon
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Capital Improvements
Summary: Many comments frustrated about the return they get on their capital improvements which
translated to many saying they had no incentive for upkeep. Comments about the state of units being bought
and how they would be in better shape if the previous owner had any incentive to do capital improvements.
Currently there are no regulations for current owners to uphold their properties. Then someone wins the lottery
for a place that has more repair needs in cost than total value. This individual is given ultimatum , pay for the
repairs or we’ll give it to the next person on the list. Completely unfair for someone to run a place into the
ground and get their money back. APCHA HAS to do a better job and fast. Everyone doesn’t have the luxury of
winning new Burlingame housing. I also don’t like the rule that an individual living in Burlingame isn’t
considered in complex when trying to move from phase 2 to phase 1. Moving from newer to older in my mind
makes sense and should be allowed. Having the restriction in for moving older to newer would still require
lottery.
Increase the home improvement alllcation from 10% home value to 20%
It is silly that all units have max $ amount for improvements. Units need repairs, updates etc. and people aren’t
doing them because they know they won’t get their money back.
Deed restricted HOA's must pay free market prices for materials and services for capital improvements yet are
restricted to less than free market rates of appreciation? It is our opinion that APCHA and/or the City sho uld
assist Deed Restricted HOA's in resolving this inequity.
APCHA should own up to the mistakes made during the initial stages of the program. APCHA should take
responsibility for the lack of planning for the aging units and the lack of foresight for res idents improving units.
As the "middle-man" in the buying/selling scenario, APCHA can't take the money and run away from the other
financial aspects of the transaction like it historically has done. The demand for housing has been high from the
beginning which created a system where there is no room for a lottery winner to remedy situations (inspections,
interior improvements and structural problems) that a normal homebuyer has the option to remedy prior to
closing. Historically, lottery winners have been f orced to buy for better or worse because there are no other
choices. City Council and APSCHA have utterly failed to recognize that reality. They deny any responsibility
(even though the money goes into their coffers at each sale). Both entities refuse to a ddress the toughest
problems. They're happy with building the inventory and depositing the checks.
Apcha is a fantastic program, and is why I am able to live in Pitkin the bulk of my adult life. I know that people
would sell their units and move somewhere else if they could afford to.any incentive to be able to sell move and
open up housing that is desperately needed. Instead what happens is housing that needs repair is being sold,
sometimes repairs are taken out of sale. I don't believe you should be financially penalized for owning an apcha
home. Whether it's in Woody Creek, n 40, or centennial. Affordability of necessary repairs to homes has to be
part of apcha. A drowning person needs a lifeline.
-Build more housing -Require units to be built instead of allowing expensive construction projects off the hook
with mitigation fees -Require ADU/CDU units to be occupied by local workforce/retirees -Increase building
department fees to pay for units/capital funds/maintenance -Build senior housing -Require CoA and PitCo to
build a certain number of units each year, using land that already own. Each year costs of construction
increase, the longer they wait, the less likely it will occur -Align actual costs of construction with mitigation fees -
Do not rely on public/private partnerships -Build playgrounds in affordable housing areas -Build livable, flexible
units with storage that accommodates gear for mountain living -Do not allow the political cycle to influence
APCHA goals -Do not allow the purveyors of overpriced real estate and opinions of their owners to cloud
thinking as is relates to those that “serve” them
I’ve been an owner in employee housing for over 10 years; without the subsidized housing I probably wouldn’t
be living in Aspen. The system works but it’s in great need of updates for this day and age. We got “lucky” to
win a fixer upper and are stuck with major expenses and repairs because of neglect and the system failing to
keep up. Please be proactive and listen to those of us that are benefitting but suffering in the housing system.
We are repairing and restoring inventory that’s technically government property and the system isn’t making it
easy. We live in “affordable” housing yet are expected to shell out $10s of thousands of dollars in repairs and
upkeep. Thanks for your efforts to keep this system updated.H41-Build more housing -Require units to be built
instead of allowing expensive construction projects off the hook with mitigation fees -Require ADU/CDU units to
be occupied by local workforce/retirees -Increase building department fees to pay for units/capital
funds/maintenance -Build senior housing -Require CoA and PitCo to build a certain number of units each year,
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using land that already own. Each year costs of construction increase, the longer they wait, the less likely it will
occur -Align actual costs of construction with mitigation fees -Do not rely on public/private partnerships -Build
playgrounds in affordable housing areas -Build livable, flexible units with storage that accommodates gear for
mountain living -Do not allow the political cycle to influence APCHA goals -Do not allow the purveyors of
overpriced real estate and opinions of their owners to cloud thinking as is relates to those that “serve” them
Please allow us to buy homes that need major improvements to upgrade Them and get credit for the
improvements. We Could help update some of these out dated and Much need capital improvements. No one
wants to buy if we can get our money back. .
APCHA has to create a component to the program to deal with the maintenance of the buildings. It's not right
that the purchase price is subsidized yet the maintenance has to be paid for at free market prices, which, in
Aspen are above average compared to any normal city in the US. And, when we do capital
improvements/replacements (new roofs, boilers, etc) we should get a bump in our valuation equal to what it
cost each of us to do it.
The incentives to get people to upgrade their homes need to improve. We have lived in our home less than 2
years and had to replace our dishwasher, stove, washer, dryer, and garbage disposal. We had mentioned to
the last home owners that the appliances were old and on their last leg after hiring an inspector but APCHA told
them if they were working that they didn't have to do anything. It's been very frustrating and expensive!
Many of the rules are ridiculous and out of date. Our house is 30+ years old and it would be cheaper to tear it
down and replace it than to repair all the issues w e inherited, but we are not allowed to do that. No common
sense to the system.
HOA reserves and deferred maintenance are big problems. My HOA dues are approaching my mortgage
payment with no end in site. Poor construction of our complex has resulted in cr umbling common areas that are
too expensive to fix. There is no incentive to make improvements when we are being governed by CPI
valuation increases. I feel lucky to live here but at the same time, I often think we have made a mistake buying
into subsidized housing. The future is grim.
I would like to see capital improvement policies improved. It is unfortunate to be tied to only the improvements
made by the original owner because of the caps on capital improvement. It seems if a resident is allowed to
improve the structure (as, perhaps, the second owner of the home,) your properties would be in better shape
upon transfer. I also think HOAs should be forced to use local attorneys if necessary, and as little as possible. I
wish APCHA would support the original docs, and if a board is not following what was established in the rules
and regs, a homeowner would not have to resort to an attorney at all to make sure his/her HOA board is
compliant.
Our biggest problems with emplyee housing have been with quality issues... both with design and construction.
We have had to shoulder more than $50,000 of costs to repair roofs on our building that had major construction
defects (that were hidden from view until revealed by soft, rotted structural members and standing wa ter inside
the roof space). We expect to bear further costs when spalling concrete on our porches starts to wear toward
the insides of garage floors (at which time we will need to re-do this concrete for all four units), and we expect
to bear more costs when walls and garage doors degrade due to repeated water exposure and soaking from
the fact that our garages have no floor drains (we are managing as best we can with floor squeegies and other
maintenance every time we park a snowy car inside... but it is a flaw that will lead to repairs that could have
been totally unnecessary if the builder had simply included floor drains). Our driveway is curved and has an
uphill grade; it could have been a straight, flat driveway, but putting in the curve made it so our free market
neighbors see a screen of landscaping trees instead of a view toward our parking area and porches. This is
nice privacy for us, but it makes our driveway a hazardous situation in winter. Things like this bother me
because while we are fortunate to have employee housing, we also have to deal with various silly features that
end up making the housing unaffordable in the long run.
How about if you guys make capital improvement under people decision? I mean you are telling the maximum
amount and owners decide what to do. That will be really helpful
It is imperative to either provide more 3 BR options for families, or allow growth of current structure with ability
to add as capital improvements. This growth can occur by building another level in housing that would fit
another floor, or building downwards towards a basement. There is no incentive to improve housing. And from
many accounts, when people have purchased their places, way too much work has to go in to make it livable
and comfortable.
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Overall great job. I would like to see easier and more flexible options for upgrades to owner units. For example,
cabinets, oven, etc.
I have upgraded my unit as it is 28 years old and feel that I should be reimbursed.
Our unit is 40 years old and requires more capital improvements than we are allowed to make under the
current capital improvement guidelines. We think it would be good to let homeowners who want to keep
improving their units to have some kind of incentive program.
Certain complexes the program should NOT have been issued a Certificate of Occupancy - Period! In some
cases, the quality and design of the buildings are so dismal (i.e. interior materials being used on the exterior of
buildings - The Bavarian, one example) has caused many for-sale units to deteriorate MANY times faster than
a typical free market home. Local HOAs cannot keep up with the rate of deterioration. This situation, coupled
with the fact that personal investment in sale units cannot be recouped, has severely compromised the u pkeep,
safety, and aesthetics of workforce housing complexes throughout Aspen and Pitkin County - as they all too
quickly become a blemish to the otherwise attractive urban fabric of our community. Sadly, workforce housing
is one of the worst and costly personal investments a local family can make!
When I purchased my 1983 mobile home (Smuggler Run), I did it because my daughter and I were in jeopardy
of losing our Truscott apartment and it was the best option for us at the time. I was thrilled that I won the
housing lottery, I still am. However, the inspection came back with several items needed and I was told that I
could either take it or leave it because someone would and that there was no room for negotiation. I was forced
to pay more than the home was worth. The sellers were able to live in a home, never maintain it or handle any
issues and then move out getting full price for the home. I found out a month after I had purchased th e home
that I owned a retaining wall (NEVER DISCLOSED) and that is was in serious need of repair or it could
collapse. The cost would be $30K. I then had to replace the roof which is not a cheap ticket item (due to leaks),
the radon needed mitigated, the windows were cracked and needed new glass, the dryer they left caught on
fire, there were two gas leaks (one in the furnace and one in a line to the house), they left tons of personal
items I had to remove off of the property, the walls and floors were saturated heavily with smoke and had to be
painted and replaced, the roof had leaked and caused significant mold and water damage to the water heater
closet, the house still needs new siding/to be painted as it is molding and falling off the sides, the gutters all
need replaced, the front door has settled and there is a huge air gap and needs to be rebuilt. The costs are
SIGNIFICANT and also the reason the other trailers are not being maintained. Something has to be done about
this. These homes need to be restructured ASAP. This is not the way that these homes should be maintained
or the way that to treat the buyers. Yes, back when they were new, sure...it worked, but these need to be
restructured immediately. The buyers need the ability to make these repairs an d the means to do so, you
cannot just put them in inhabitable homes and tell them to take it or leave it. It is not good business and I do not
believe any of you would want to be treated that way. Mobile homes need to be RO. They need to be looked at
individually because some need more repairs than others and these are not all just units within the same
complex with the same walls and same structures and equipment. Thank you.
Retirees should be valued and retained in employee housing. Many are essential lo ng term community
members who contribute volunteerism, participation in local events and politics, and wisdom. Loosen the
restrictions on RO housing. Value caps should include reasonable ability to add value through maintenance,
and reasonable improvements and finishing out property. Consider modifying or scrapping the sliding scale cap
based on urban wage workers CPI. Individuals paying fixed mortgages shouldn't be punished based on a low
CPI during ownership or at time of sale. Add transparency by adding a link to the current CPI index increase
during any month and by adding an algorithm on APCHA website where owners can insert their purchase
value, length of ownership, type of deed restriction and calculate their value (CPI increase) at any time. This is
not easy for an employee to figure out on his/her own. Thank you for providing employee housing HOAs with
assessment enforcement assistance. Please publish all unwritten APCHA rules and policies so employee
housing owners receive fair and equal treatment and can understand how they will be applied.
Thanks for hiring the Compliance officer, it's time to clean up the program and make it true and fair for all.
Additionally, I'd love to see a formal program that allows homeowners to update/upgrade their units and be able
to recover a portion of the funds when selling. A proper program would encourage updates and help keep the
stock in good shape.
I agree that APCHA gives affordable housing, but market upkeep. I have no problem paying for market upkeep,
but you need to be assured that you'll be reimbursed at market level. For example: our windows were 30 years
old so we paid over $15,000 because we NEEDED new windows, but that is already over our cap if we go to
sell a unit we've lived in for 8+ years. We also need to start looking at new siding and a new rough. Regular
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maintenance for depreciating single family units either need a new category such as RO or need to have the
caps increased for market resale. Also, the process of RO homes NEED to be on a lottery b asis. The fact that
it's "who you know" and how much you can pay defeats the purpose of APCHA. It should be the same process
for all categories.
APCHA has a very difficult job; The program has been amazing but needs to be re -visioned for the next 40
years. Things have changed ( not telling you anything) and the housing needs to remain viable for owners and
renters. Addressing upkeep of units by owners and financial returns available is critical for keeping units in
working order. Perhaps in the purchase agreements, from now forward, there could be an upgrade and
inspection requirement. Standard upgrades( painting every X years/ new appliances(?? etc) every X years and
the dates are firm for upgrades- regardless of turn over and ownership- If a new owner upgrades sooner then
that sets a new starting date. If new appliances etc (values) can be depreciated then the upgrades can be
afforded more easily by the owners ( works like free market value with regard to the upgrades - flooring,
appliances, cabinets, doors- permanent things should be depreciated.Paint etc. probably should not be
depreciated ( is there a way to lower labor cost if an APCHA approved contractor is chosen???). That would be
helpful too and could save APCHA $ in the long run if homes are maintained and valued at the MAX( thus the
transaction recovery at sale is greater).
were Currently repairing our 2 bedroom at 516 Vine St. The process has been lengthy to say the least. The
HOA is slow to understand and resolve the environmental and energy deficiencies in the property. The current
system lacks the capital necessary to encourage a energy efficient and healthy built environment. This puts the
health of occupants at risk as well as contributing to unnecessary carbon pollution and high energy costs. The
repairs necessary can easily exceed the capital appriceation limits which is a discouraging incentive for HOAs
and individuals.CORE is helpful in providing education and rebates for energy but there’s a gap when it comes
to a healthier indoor environment yet the two go closely together.specifically “ air tightness “ as it relates to
energy usage and indoor air quality. Current design standards address these issues but the older housing
stock is in need of a solution. I am hoping to complete the repair of my deed restricted home soon and
hopefully live in a safer more energy efficient unit. It will undoubtedly cost more than I will receive in
appreciation or energy savings but I believe it is the right way to go. That’s the blessing and the curse of
“affordable “ housing.
RO housing gets no help financially so should not have any of your rules! Or you can help pay for infra -
structure! It is almost impossible to make 1500 hours working 2 seasonal jobs in this valley. That number is a
joke!!
APCHA is basically not helpful at all and a detriment to employee housing at this point. We have tried to use
their help in the collection of default homeowners dues for our HOA, no help. They said they have avenues to
help, but don't. I do not understand why homeowners are not incentivized to invest in their home to make them
more energy efficient. Homeowners do not want to spend any money updating their homes because they are
not allowed to get that money out of them. The percentage of capital improvements allowed sho uld increase
with the length of time someone is in the home, so they can make sense spending money upgrading
windows/floors/appliances, etc. It is no wonder APCHA receives units back in poor condition. Finaly APCHA
should incentivize people to downsize by increasing allowable income/asset to those people already in the
system, to open up larger homes for those with new families. It hurts no one to change that rule for those who
already have employee housing.
Biggest suggestion is to find a better way to communicate with owners effectively. I've sent many emails in the
past with questions regarding requirements for capital improvements. I received zero responses. it feels like all
APCHA cares about at the end of the day, is sales and fees.
I feel fortunate to have won a unit. It’s a bit irritating to know that due to the age of the complex bigger
maintence issues will be happening and that my HOA is probably not prepared for this and some long time
residents have gained financially by not paying their fair s hare. I’m stuck inheriting their financial contribution
shortcomings. I’d also suggest coming up with a modified tag line instead of “AH is a privilege not a right”. I
work full time, I follow APCHA’s rules, and maintain my unit well....it comes off a bit condescending.
The cap allowed for improvements on our single family home if/when we sell is around $14,000.00. We met
that mark within the first 5 years of living here, and that was several decades ago. We need more incentives for
people to keep the housing inventory in good shape. Personally, we have invested much more than we will
ever see back, but we know of others who don't bother because they can't recoup any of the costs of the
improvements anyway. On another note, my husband and I have worked in the valley for many decades, and
plan to retire here. I feel we have earned the right to continue to live in our homes (especially without any
alternative housing possibilities?), and I feel that some of the regulations (such as applying for the Housing's
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approval for retirees to take an extended trip?) need further discussion. Thank you for this opportunity to
comment.
Change rules to include assessments/repairs as recoverable costs when units sell (Centennial!)
I think there should be stricter rules for maintenance on the units. When I purchased my unit the person selling
admitted they hadn't done any maintenance in 8 years and it showed. I was unable to get any compensation for
broken or missing things in the unit and had to take the unit as it was or go back to the lottery to wait until I won
again (and how knows how long that could take, since I was in 18 lotteries before I won my poorly maintained
unit). Very frustrating that there is no accountability for maintenance.
There should be better structure when it comes to rentals. And not have property management just pick and
chose who they want in in big complexes like centennial for example. Let’s have a fair list. Also, sellers should
have a guideline of the minimum standard to sell their place. They shouldn’t be able to sell places with broken
roofs and/or appliances and get credit for it, just like buyer should expect a minimum standards when buying.
Implement incentive program for owners to maintain units and to ensur e value of home matches income
category
I can’t believe how many units that were built 25 + years ago still have the original decor, appliances etc. it’s
pretty discussing.
Reduce substantially the city permit fees on any capital improvement or maintenan ce item requiring a permit.
Basically, you are totally out of touch with reality. Limit on $$ one can make, the crappy properties that are build
lousy and then to e pact owners to pay ridiculous HOA fees to try to maintain sub standard buildings. Then
owners have to sink so much money in and you wouldn’t put on the resale price and then you take a
commission. Basically, blood suckers!
Residents are not going to keep their units in good shape with such an inadequate allowance for
improvements. They are too costly in the valley at this point in time and you can do very little for the 10% you
can recapture
They're rightfully should be radon mitigations on all new projects that the city builds. Also c arpeting upstairs
units, especially now that everyone's cute esa puppies are turning into big dogs with no place to run.
Apcha needs to stop trying to control Smuggler Park which it keeps I assisting is Affordable housing but which
technically is not since it does not conform to the definitions of RO housing and has no cap on income, owning
other properties, appreciation, work requirements, etc etc
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Downsizing / Retiring in Unit
Summary: Many comments about the fear of being forced from home. Comments about the option (or lack
thereof) of downsizing from current units to something smaller.
Retirees should be allowed to stay in their units, if they have spent their lives working in this valley/City.
Perhaps there's some guidelines to help regulate so its not abused, not sure what those would be, but could be
length worked could correlate somehow, or a minimum number of years of service.
from what I see in the papers there are issues with people winning APCHA lotteries and finding the unit in bad
shape. APCHA should not have drawings on units that are not move in ready. also, APCHA housing should be
for people working in the valley who have low to moderate incomes. there are a lot of large expensive homes in
the inventory. the need for smaller units for single people and for low to moderate income families is more
important than subsidizing those who have large incomes. this is for both rental and owner uni ts.
i dont believe that you can have planned for retirement prudently and still meet requirements and i dont think
you should have to move because you saved in your ira 401 k or possibly inherited a small amount of money
we do not want to be force out when we are old, because we live here for a long long time and we are teh one
who kept Aspen Alive.
You must address the retirement affordable units. Offer incentives to open up the single family homes to those
that have had kids leave. Help them to want to move out of the bigger units. Create a swap program where you
could mutually swap from a bigger place to a smaller place. Put a trade program into place.
Allowing preference for downsizing would free up many of the 3-4 bedroom units that are sitting with a single or
couple left in them right now.
Retirees contribute to our community. Please retain retirees in their existing employee housing after a
reasonable number of years of employment in/service to the community and allow them to qualify for other
units and incentivize downgrading to smaller units if appropriate, but please do not force retirees who have
worked in our community for an extended period of time (i.e. 20+ years) out of their homes.
Need retirement Housing.
Please complete Burlingame Phase III. APCHA should require all current and future housing developments to
have 80% of the required or more capital reserved and reserving. All capital reserves should be updated every
5 years and must be completed by an APCHA approved specialist. APCHA should be able to receive and
review this report and current financials. There needs to be a path both APCHA owners to get priority to
downsize their unit at or before retirement. I know of many people that would like to move into a smaller unit but
don't want to run into a compliance issue. We should provide a clear path for individuals to downsize.
A few specifics: 1. I don't understand how 1 million dollar plus homes in Burlingame best serves our
community. I understand surgeons need homes as well, but at some price point, don't free market options
become available? ...seems like we could have housed more intermediate income folks in that space. 2. The
city is selling off a home a co-worker was renting by the Ice Garden (featured in the local paper a couple
months ago - Hyman Ave?). The co-worker was a local Physical Therapist, his wife a Nurse in the HHS
building, and they have two children. The potential sale of the home they had lived in for years gave them an
opportunity to leave the valley, which they did. The valley lost two healthcare professionals, at least partially,
because the city put their employee housing up for sale. I want to make sure ALL the money from that sale
goes back into affordable housing, as the city has claimed will happen. I hope folks in the right positions are
keeping an eye on that property. 3. I appreciate the ramped up efforts to enforce rules and stop abuses of an
affordable housing system that we are very fortunate to have - enforcements should continue. However, as an
owner of a house in Aspen Village, I don't understand why I shouldn't be able to rent my property (airBnB etc.)
while I'm away on a vacation as long as I meet my obligations of 1500 hours working in the valley each year. I
think the regulations may need some refining. 4. Finally, I am happy with my house, which I couldn't own
without the work of the county and APCHA. But, many of my peers - 30-something graduate degree-holding
professionals, many with young families - are having a hard time making it in this valley because they have
very limited options for buying housing. I think this population of highly trained and specialized workers who
make good, but not great money, can sometimes get left behind in the system of subsidies. We make too much
to get help with things like healthcare and taxes. Any savings we have counts against us in the housing
categories system. We spend the great majority our money on taxes, housing, and daycare - the extreme cost
of living here doesn't allow us to get ahead in any way. We need skilled workers who can live prosperous lives
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and retire comfortably at 65. As a valley-wide community, we need to put a lot of thought into how our housing
system helps retain those people who could live much more financially sound lives elsewhere.
I am very concerned about being able to keep our house when we retire after putting in over 30 years of work
in Pitkin County. I pray that you always allow people to stay in their homes.
I am not in a position to consider downsizing for a while. but when that comes, it would be great to create some
incentive to making me do it... I live in one of the best APCHA houses there is and I will eventually not need a 3
bedrooms. However, there is no incentive to downsize. One idea I have is to offer me a higher re turn on my
investment (5% vs 3%, for instance) so that I can afford to make the move to a lower free market unit possibly
or just move to another APCHA unit that fits my needs
Retirees should be valued and retained in employee housing. Many are essential long term community
members who contribute volunteerism, participation in local events and politics, and wisdom. Loosen the
restrictions on RO housing. Value caps should include reasonable ability to add value through maintenance,
and reasonable improvements and finishing out property. Consider modifying or scrapping the sliding scale cap
based on urban wage workers CPI. Individuals paying fixed mortgages shouldn't be punished based on a low
CPI during ownership or at time of sale. Add transparency by adding a link to the current CPI index increase
during any month and by adding an algorithm on APCHA website where owners can insert their purchase
value, length of ownership, type of deed restriction and calculate their value (CPI increase) at any time. This i s
not easy for an employee to figure out on his/her own. Thank you for providing employee housing HOAs with
assessment enforcement assistance. Please publish all unwritten APCHA rules and policies so employee
housing owners receive fair and equal treatment and can understand how they will be applied.
APCHA should participate in ensuring that properties are maintained. Owners should be penalized for not
keeping up their homes when it comes time to sell. HOAs should undergo yearly inspections by an APCHA
agent to confirm that they are maintaining shared infrastructure appropriately. APCHA/City of Aspen should be
banking land close to the urban center for future housing development or op en space reserves (why didn't they
buy the USFS land?!) Kicking workers out of units upon retirement does not support a healthy community.
APCHA board should remain comprised of dedicated community members, not elected officials, and should be
given more authority/decision-making power than they currently have.
We bought a 1967 trailer in Aspen Village at a whopping $340K because there was no 3 bedroom units ever
available under APCHA. There needs to be some way for folks to downsize after their kids move out so single
people don’t have 3 bedroom homes until they die. We had no chance in the current system. We are 2 long
time locals with 2 kids.
Thanks for the opportunity to provide feedback. This is the first time we’ve been asked to contribute, and it is
refreshing. We are so lucky to have this program in our community, and it is just about the only thing that has
(barely) saved Aspen from becoming a hollowed-out shell, void of all but the one percent. As with so many
issues in Aspen, the genesis of the program is critical; it should be respected and honored. I believe it was
intended as community housing for people at all stages of live, not simply those in the workforce. It bothers me
that the current manager of the program is fostering a less inclusive narrative that runs counter to the original
Aspen value of appreciating all community members for their varied contributions. It is agonizing to see people
being pitted against each other, young vs old, in this retiree housing question, when the real cause of the
problem, the larger economic forces of inequality, go unquestioned. Aspen was a leader on this issue, and it
could be again. Just as those who created this program had to fight political battles and invest time and dollars
to make it happen, those who want to see more housing options today need to work within the system to build
more, demand more, and be creative, and not simply cannibalize the program we have now.
APCHA is basically not helpful at all and a detriment to employee housing at this point. We have tried to use
their help in the collection of default homeowners dues for our HOA, no help. They said they have avenues to
help, but don't. I do not understand why homeowners are not incentivized to invest in their home to make them
more energy efficient. Homeowners do not want to spend any money updating their homes because they are
not allowed to get that money out of them. The percentage of capital improvements allowed should increase
with the length of time someone is in the home, so they can make sense spending money upgrading
windows/floors/appliances, etc. It is no wonder APCHA receives units back in poor condition. Finaly APCHA
should incentivize people to downsize by increasing allowable income/asset to those people already in the
system, to open up larger homes for those with new families. It hurts no one to change that rule for those who
already have employee housing.
When an APCHA owner retires, there was some talk about allowing that owner to leave for 6 months per year
thus freeing the unit for another worker to live in for that period of time. Is this official already?
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The cap allowed for improvements on our single family home if/when we sell is around $14,000.00. We met
that mark within the first 5 years of living here, and that was several decades ago. We need more incentives for
people to keep the housing inventory in good shape. Personally, we have invested much more than we will
ever see back, but we know of others who don't bother because they can't recoup any of the costs of the
improvements anyway. On another note, my husband and I have worked in the valley for many decades, and
plan to retire here. I feel we have earned the right to continue to live in our homes (especially without any
alternative housing possibilities?), and I feel that some of the regulations (such as applying for the Housing's
approval for retirees to take an extended trip?) need further discussion. Thank you for this opportunity to
comment.
Some ideas that would be nice : - more family-type units such as townhomes, duplexes, row houses, or modest
single family homes. -units with the ability to be expanded to add another bedroom/bathroom (at the owners
expense). -the ability to rightsize within the deed-restricted community. If I find a retired couple in a single
family home that desires to trade with my smaller condo, we should be able to approach APHCA to make such
a transfer happen with ease. Inter-program transfers so that size or location better fits current owners should be
encouraged by APCHA. -community housing is what keeps this town vibrant. We need retirees (who have
worked and laid down roots) to be able to retain housing where their friends and family are. Likewise for kids
who grow up in employee housing and want to continue to live and work in the hometown they love as adults. If
we only cater to seasonal young singles, there will be no investment in community. -a slight advantage in the
lottery for professions who serve the community with invaluable and highly specific skill sets such as teach ers,
police, EMS/911 dispatchers, nurses, and physicians And . . . I am so thankful to be able to afford to live where
I work. I wish APCHA the best during these transitional times.
Build more affordable housing for sale or rent. There’s just way too many people traveling up and down in this
Valley who would like to live in Aspen but there isn’t place to live. I work at The Little Nell for 10 years and
housing it’s getting tighter and tighter to get, lot of good people are leaving because it’s too though t o simply
find affordable place to live.
Downsizes. Better job. For retired long time locals at a fair price
It would be possible to incentivize owners to better maintain domicile as well as move on at retirement without
using the metaphorical stick with punishment
Simply put, more units are needed. The senior problem is over stated but VRBO and 2nd home uses are
creating more need by taking over formerly rented units.
I think an overall raise in the number of APCHA units is really important, and would also love to see more
incentives for downsizing by older or retired people living in homes with more bedrooms than residents since
the kids have grown and left.
There's been talk in the past of an incentive payment to encourage retirees to vacat e. Some form of this would
be cheaper than creating new units.
I do believe that people should be able to retire in employee housing. If people have put in the time to serve
this community, they deserve to be able to stay in their current housing. I also believe that the age that
someone retires in employee should be examined. I would suggest that instead of only using the retirement
age, you also consider using time worked in Pitkin County. For example, either 30 years of employment or age
67. This way people who have worked hard, saved, and invested wisely can retire earlier if they so choose.
Forcing everyone to wait until 67 until retirement isn't fair to those that work really hard so that they can re tire
early.
Allowing more time for seniors to travel and be away from their units.
My residence has worked out well for me but without any good options for downsizing or senior housing I will
continue to live in my unit with several empty bedrooms for the foreseeable future.
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Unit Size / Capacity
Summary: Many want more units built to increase the capacity of APCHA sales units. Comments mentioned
more 3 bedroom / SFR rather than the focus on single person households. Handful of comments mention
building fewer expensive housing options (i.e. new Burlingame SFR).
Thank you for cracking down on people breaking the rules. Focus on low income housing not North 40 mansion
projects.
Yes, you need to change the way you place employees in categories. I know so many wealthy trust funders
living in low category housing and those of us that work are asses off cant even afford to live in the categories
you place us in because we are honest about our incomes and cant hi de them. Why do you include a
percentage of our 401 & 457 retirement balances toward our net assets when you know we cant use that
money to purchase an employee unit, especially for those of us that have worked for the city for a long time
and plan on work ing another 10 plus years before retirement. I have worked for the city for 23 years and when I
retire in 10 years I will need to move because I cannot afford any employee units in my category. WHY??? The
category 1 & 2 units are the best units and tend to go to those that hide income. Category 3 & 4 are completely
un-affordable to any hard working single parent when you add in the monthly dues!!! If you can afford a
$500,000.00 unit why do you qualify for employee housing??? Need to do much better checks o n people
applying for available units. I know one girl that made into a two bedroom lottery using her niece as the 2nd
person and her niece does not even live in CO. How did that happen??? and she is a trust funder who only
shows income on a part time job but receives a huge trust every month??? Also people purchasing free market
units under a trust or LLC and living in employee units?? This stuff is not difficult to find out about. Please, a
category 2 unit and the owners are driving around in brand new Ra nge Rovers and traveling around the world
all the time, and yes neither one of them is currently working. Yes this is happening right now under your
noses, I personally know the couple.
Please construct catagory 3 and 4 single family homes.
-Build more housing -Require units to be built instead of allowing expensive construction projects off the hook
with mitigation fees -Require ADU/CDU units to be occupied by local workforce/retirees -Increase building
department fees to pay for units/capital funds/maintenance -Build senior housing -Require CoA and PitCo to
build a certain number of units each year, using land that already own. Each year costs of construction
increase, the longer they wait, the less likely it will occur -Align actual costs of construction with mitigation fees -
Do not rely on public/private partnerships -Build playgrounds in affordable housing areas -Build livable, flexible
units with storage that accommodates gear for mountain living -Do not allow the political cycle to influence
APCHA goals -Do not allow the purveyors of overpriced real estate and opinions of their owners to cloud
thinking as is relates to those that “serve” them
need more housing with good access to bus
New units should be a priority...not compliance. Come up with a plan for HOA maintenance for all properties in
system.
Spend more time on improvements to infrastructure and building more rental units. Stop the enforcement
emphasis that I've seen increasing. Try to not listen to the younger "entitled" complainers.
We need more inventory Aspen caractère is disappearing it’s work force living is diminishing every decades
It is imperative to either provide more 3 BR options for families, or allow growth of current structure with ability
to add as capital improvements. This growth can occur by building another level in housing that would fit
another floor, or building downwards towards a basement. There is no incentive to improve housing. And from
many accounts, when people have purchased their places, way too much work ha s to go in to make it livable
and comfortable.
Please complete Burlingame Phase III. APCHA should require all current and future housing developments to
have 80% of the required or more capital reserved and reserving. All capital reserves should be update d every
5 years and must be completed by an APCHA approved specialist. APCHA should be able to receive and
review this report and current financials. There needs to be a path both APCHA owners to get priority to
downsize their unit at or before retirement. I know of many people that would like to move into a smaller unit but
don't want to run into a compliance issue. We should provide a clear path for individuals to downsize.
Focus on more units and preserving and improving existing housing
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A few specifics: 1. I don't understand how 1 million dollar plus homes in Burlingame best serves our
community. I understand surgeons need homes as well, but at some price point, don't free market options
become available? ...seems like we could have housed more intermediate income folks in that space. 2. The
city is selling off a home a co-worker was renting by the Ice Garden (featured in the local paper a couple
months ago - Hyman Ave?). The co-worker was a local Physical Therapist, his wife a Nurse in the HHS
building, and they have two children. The potential sale of the home they had lived in for years gave them an
opportunity to leave the valley, which they did. The valley lost two healthcare professionals, at least partially,
because the city put their employee housing up for sale. I want to make sure ALL the money from that sale
goes back into affordable housing, as the city has claimed will happen. I hope folks in the right positions are
keeping an eye on that property. 3. I appreciate the ramped up efforts to enforce rules and stop abuses of an
affordable housing system that we are very fortunate to have - enforcements should continue. However, as an
owner of a house in Aspen Village, I don't understand why I shouldn't be able to rent my property (airBnB etc.)
while I'm away on a vacation as long as I meet my obligations of 1500 hours working in the valley each year. I
think the regulations may need some refining. 4. Finally, I am happy with my house, which I couldn't own
without the work of the county and APCHA. But, many of my peers - 30-something graduate degree-holding
professionals, many with young families - are having a hard time making it in this valley because they have
very limited options for buying housing. I think this population of highly trained and s pecialized workers who
make good, but not great money, can sometimes get left behind in the system of subsidies. We make too much
to get help with things like healthcare and taxes. Any savings we have counts against us in the housing
categories system. We spend the great majority our money on taxes, housing, and daycare - the extreme cost
of living here doesn't allow us to get ahead in any way. We need skilled workers who can live prosperous lives
and retire comfortably at 65. As a valley-wide community, we need to put a lot of thought into how our housing
system helps retain those people who could live much more financially sound lives elsewhere.
Build some 3BRs! I have two kids in a 2 BR (and a dog). Burlingame phase 2 2030?
APCHA should participate in ensuring that properties are maintained. Owners should be penalized for not
keeping up their homes when it comes time to sell. HOAs should undergo yearly inspections by an APCHA
agent to confirm that they are maintaining shared infrastructure appropriately. APCHA/City of Aspen should be
banking land close to the urban center for future housing development or open space reserves (why didn't they
buy the USFS land?!) Kicking workers out of units upon retirement does not support a healthy community.
APCHA board should remain comprised of dedicated community members, not elected officials, and should be
given more authority/decision-making power than they currently have.
We need more buildings in Aspen. Build several high density apartment buildings on the outsk irts of Aspen for
rentals. Build more 2-bedrooms to purchase.
With the number of families bidding on 3 bed units every time something comes up, clearly there is a need.
Don't bailout owners of their housing for deferred maintenance; no one bails out free market owners. Don't
provide anymore employee housing as it fuels growth; let employers figure out how they will house employees.
1. Build better quality, basic housing. The money the City and my HOA has spent to fix bad construction in my
complex is a total joke! 2. Enforce the housing rules, I know several owners who have or are currently openly
breaking the general housing rules and they know the chances of getting caught is slim to none. 3. Make sure
the HOA's are operated correctly and that the HOA rules are being enforced along with all city and state laws
and codes are being enforced at the properties.
Add houses to Aspen Village in the 10 lots they have available. Make people maintain ho uses they live in.
I realize housing is becoming harder to find and a big impact on that is the VRBO and airBNB properties as well
as older homes being purchased, remodeled and rented for a larger price tag, but this is an issue in most
places, not just RFV. It's happening on the front range and larger cities across the country. I have been living
here 25 years and it took over 20 to finally have the opportunity to purchase employee housing. It's hard to get
but it's also an amazing opportunity, not a righ t. You are literally winning a lottery. I know there is a vocal group
in Aspen that wants to make a lot of changes but housing is hard in many places, not just here, and you have
to get creative, live together, that is reality. The one change I can support is the possibility of increasing the wait
period to more than 4 years to purchase employee housing. That may help secure a population that is very
committed to the community for a life time. As someone who has been here almost 3 decades, our older, local
population adds a ton of benefit and character to this town and I would hate to see that get pushed out. The
APCHA has always worked well in my opinion, and at times I didn't live in employee housing, but you make
due, working as many jobs as necessary and having as many roommates as needed to stay here. It would be
great to have more rentals properties, as a business owner in Aspen, it is difficult to get and maintain
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employees due to this issue, however it's not just a problem with the APCHA, it's valley wide and related to how
the whole home rental business is working now, as I mentioned above, and that is out of the control of the
APCHA.
APCHA is a program with an impossible task--to make the unaffordable, affordable. APCHA's task has become
even more challenging now that moving down-valley is not longer an affordable option. The new choice for the
Aspen working class is to secure APCHA housing or leave the valley for good. I believe APCHA's mission
should be to provide an opportunity for those who have committed themselves to the Aspen area the ability to
stay. This means providing housing in a variety of formats and sizes. I have noticed a propensity for 1 -bedroom
housing to be built recently, which i great. I live in a 1-bed apartment and am lucky to have it. However, as I
look to the possible future of starting a family, I have extremely-limited options for a larger unit. We want to stay
in Aspen, but we can't live in a 1-bedroom apartment forever.
Build employee housing on the top of the Red Brick. Two stories, no land costs and walk to work advantages
More housing options are necessary. Mainly, a rental pool that is accessible to residents of Pitkin Cty who earn
between $40,000-$75,000 annually. This enables a population of people wishing to stay “up valley” the ability
to do so. This is especially important due to the growth and lure of the mid -valley. We need to keep a stable
workforce up valley (aspen/Snowmass) to sustain great service to guests paying top dollar to visit Year-Round.
It’s a real shame that there aren’t more APCHA housing developments
Spend some money and build more housing like Annie Mitchell. Quit waiting for Fornell and do it yourselves.
APCHA has plenty of money in the bank, spend it before Aspen is all old people and it’s too late. Make the
developers pay more, duh!!! They don’t deserve how easy they get out of employee housing.
Some ideas that would be nice : - more family-type units such as townhomes, duplexes, row houses, or modest
single family homes. -units with the ability to be expanded to add another bedroom/bathroom (at the owners
expense). -the ability to rightsize within the deed-restricted community. If I find a retired couple in a single
family home that desires to trade with my smaller condo, we should be able to approach APHCA to make such
a transfer happen with ease. Inter-program transfers so that size or location better fits current owners should be
encouraged by APCHA. -community housing is what keeps this town vibrant. We need retirees (who have
worked and laid down roots) to be able to retain housing where their friends and family are. Likewise for kids
who grow up in employee housing and want to continue to live and work in the hometown they love as adult s. If
we only cater to seasonal young singles, there will be no investment in community. -a slight advantage in the
lottery for professions who serve the community with invaluable and highly specific skill sets such as teachers,
police, EMS/911 dispatchers, nurses, and physicians And . . . I am so thankful to be able to afford to live where
I work. I wish APCHA the best during these transitional times.
Build build build.
I love you guys. You made it possible for me to raise my family in Aspen! I came onto housing in 2001 when
there was a large amount of building the APCHA. I would love to see this happen more for the new generation
coming into our town. I do believe the next step will need to be a Valley Wide initiative. Thank you!
Employee housing is family-disincentive. If one wishes to have more than 1 child, the housing options are
extremely limiting
APCHA has given us nothing but hassles. Aspen village was already a subdivision in reality, since the mid
1960’s. We were forced to go under APCHA guidelines for approval of our “subdivision” 30 years later. There
was a bridge loan. It was paid with interest. But approval for our “subdivision “ was held up at the last second,
unless we agreed to come under APCHA guidelines. We need housing here. In general, I like and appreciate
the work you do to provide more housing. But in our case, we had our own housing. You simply forced/coerced
us under your program
I don't have any answers however having 2 children and a dog as a single parent here, our options were
extremely limited to say he least. I lucked out because I had savings and could buy a 2 bedroom however it's
not ideal lacing a bedroom. If we had to wait for a rental, we would have been forced to move out of the val ley.
There were no other options other than to buy a mobile home.
More housing is needed. Lookat the traffic going down valley
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I see a need for affordable housing that are bigger than 2 bedrooms. I have spoken to many young families that
are growing after 3-5 years and there is nothing available or new construction for bigger families that live and
work in town all year.
We were going to purchase a unit a few years ago but there were problems with code and health issues.
APCHA did not care about the issue and stated they would just sell to the next person. This engenders a
horrible culture that is not sustainable. The aging pool of units are about to have major issues and many HOAs
will not be able to handle the burden causing huge problems. The quality o f the buildings also needs to be
addressed for current and any future development. There are units with mold, without proper insulation , with
poor materials and design. There is a need for more family housing. A shift in the management and general
culture of the department is desperately needed in order to maintain the vitality of the housing program.
Simply put, more units are needed. The senior problem is over stated but VRBO and 2nd home uses are
creating more need by taking over formerly rented units.
Our growing family (with 2 full-time, working parents) would love to see more affordable 3 bedroom units. Very
few come up per year. We are grateful for what we have, but would like to see less 1 bedrooms being built
(especially rentals that attract temp workers). Families need to be better supported in this community- and not
forced to consider leaving. Families with 3 children contribute a LOT to this community- food, education,
activities, etc.
I think an overall raise in the number of APCHA units is really important, and would also love to see more
incentives for downsizing by older or retired people living in homes with more bedrooms than residents since
the kids have grown and left.
There's been talk in the past of an incentive payment to encourage retirees to vacate. Some form of this would
be cheaper than creating new units.
Housing units with 3 bedrooms should have larger living/ kitchen spaces than housing units with 1 bedroom.
Need better housing accommodations for the Adult professionals that live here. That means even those making
in the range of 300k per household as that is what it takes to raise a family here but still not nearly enough to
own 90% of the homes from here to GWS 2-3 bdrm units that can house a family. Also need to find a wa y to
properly vet those entering housing. Enforcement for those already in housing really only needs to be if they're
renting on VRBO or to non Pitco employees.
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Buy / Sell Process
Summary: A number of comments about the condition of units during the buying process and how if a
prospective buyer hesitates APCHA says "we will move on to the next person.
1. There are far more people in employee housing who are responsible, rule-abiding members of the
community than not. Please recognize this. 2. The extremely poor build quality of the units is the biggest
reason capital reserves are low, not irresponsibility of homeowners. When you are fixing siding and roofs fi ve or
ten years into the life of your complex, you are spending money that should be in the bank for 20 more years or
more. If you build quality units now, you will help save money in the long run. 3. Pegging appreciation to CPI
and then charging a 3 percent sales fee means that in some cases you are wiping out more than three years of
appreciation. That's not right. Since the city is not spending its housing dollars, ask them for funding, don't take
3 percent from a homeowner who is seeing less than 1 percent appreciation per year. 4. ANyone who calls the
housing office with a question or a concern is often confronted with a culture of "no!" Employee housing owners
are not the enemy and the housing office is not their overlords. You serve the community. We ARE the
community. 5. You have front and center on your website that "employee housing is a privilege, not a right." But
employee housing owners and renters do HAVE rights. You expect them to act like responsible owners, but
there's an implication that they're living in their units at your discretion. That kind of demeaning attitude is why
people are so reluctant to take your surveys. They don't completely trust you. Build that trust. You're all good
people trying to do the right thing. That really came thr ough at the last meeting you had to explain capital
improvements and permitting. There was a clear attitude of, "We're here to help you." It was nice. Keep that up!
Currently there are no regulations for current owners to uphold their properties. Then som eone wins the lottery
for a place that has more repair needs in cost than total value. This individual is given ultimatum, pay for the
repairs or we’ll give it to the next person on the list. Completely unfair for someone to run a place into the
ground and get their money back. APCHA HAS to do a better job and fast. Everyone doesn’t have the luxury of
winning new Burlingame housing. I also don’t like the rule that an individual living in Burlingame isn’t
considered in complex when trying to move from phase 2 to phase 1. Moving from newer to older in my mind
makes sense and should be allowed. Having the restriction in for moving older to newer would still require
lottery.
Protect the buyers and don’t let the sellers get away with making 3% on a home that they didn’t take care of. It
leaves the buyers to clean up their mess if they even have the money to do so. It doesn’t matter if there are 80
people bidding on a unit, the winner should not be forced to buy an expensive pig sty to be able to live here.
If someone does sight unseen lottery and refuses, they should be banned from future lotteries for 1y
The incentives to get people to upgrade their homes need to improve. We have lived in our home less than 2
years and had to replace our dishwasher, stove, washer, dryer, and garbage disposal. We had mentioned to
the last home owners that the appliances were old and on their last leg after hiring an inspector but APCHA told
them if they were working that they didn't have to do anything. It's been very frustrating and expensive!
More accountability for those selling units to honor the sellers contract that they sign. To clean the unit etc.
APCHA does not enforce it. Get sellers to give $2000 to APCHA and they can get it back if the unit is passed
over clean and in working order.
When I purchased my 1983 mobile home (Smuggler Run), I did it because my daughter and I were in jeopardy
of losing our Truscott apartment and it was the best option for us at the time. I was thrilled that I won the
housing lottery, I still am. However, the inspection came back with several items needed and I was told that I
could either take it or leave it because someone would and that there was no room for negotiation. I was forced
to pay more than the home was worth. The sellers were able to live in a home, never maintain it or handle any
issues and then move out getting full price for the home. I found out a month after I had purchased the home
that I owned a retaining wall (NEVER DISCLOSED) and that is was in serious need of repair or it could
collapse. The cost would be $30K. I then had to replace the roof which is not a cheap ticket item (due to leaks),
the radon needed mitigated, the windows were cracked and needed new glass, the dryer they left caught on
fire, there were two gas leaks (one in the furnace and one in a line to the house), they left tons of personal
items I had to remove off of the property, the walls and floors were saturated heavily with smoke and had to be
painted and replaced, the roof had leaked and caused significant mold and water damage to the water heater
closet, the house still needs new siding/to be painted as it is molding and falling off the sides, the gutters all
need replaced, the front door has settled and there is a huge air gap and needs to be rebuilt. T he costs are
SIGNIFICANT and also the reason the other trailers are not being maintained. Something has to be done about
this. These homes need to be restructured ASAP. This is not the way that these homes should be maintained
or the way that to treat the buyers. Yes, back when they were new, sure...it worked, but these need to be
restructured immediately. The buyers need the ability to make these repairs and the means to do so, you
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cannot just put them in inhabitable homes and tell them to take it or leave it. It is not good business and I do not
believe any of you would want to be treated that way. Mobile homes need to be RO. They need to be looked at
individually because some need more repairs than others and these are not all just units within the same
complex with the same walls and same structures and equipment. Thank you.
I agree that APCHA gives affordable housing, but market upkeep. I have no problem paying for market upkeep,
but you need to be assured that you'll be reimbursed at market level. For example: our windows were 30 years
old so we paid over $15,000 because we NEEDED new windows, but that is already over our cap if we go to
sell a unit we've lived in for 8+ years. We also need to start looking at new siding and a new rough. Regular
maintenance for depreciating single family units either need a new category such as RO or need to have the
caps increased for market resale. Also, the process of RO homes NEED to be on a lottery basis. The fact that
it's "who you know" and how much you can pay defeats the purpose of APCHA. It should be the same process
for all categories.
APCHA has a very difficult job; The program has been amazing but needs to be re -visioned for the next 40
years. Things have changed ( not telling you anything) and the housing n eeds to remain viable for owners and
renters. Addressing upkeep of units by owners and financial returns available is critical for keeping units in
working order. Perhaps in the purchase agreements, from now forward, there could be an upgrade and
inspection requirement. Standard upgrades( painting every X years/ new appliances(?? etc) every X years and
the dates are firm for upgrades- regardless of turn over and ownership- If a new owner upgrades sooner then
that sets a new starting date. If new appliances etc (values) can be depreciated then the upgrades can be
afforded more easily by the owners ( works like free market value with regard to the upgrades - flooring,
appliances, cabinets, doors- permanent things should be depreciated.Paint etc. probably should not be
depreciated ( is there a way to lower labor cost if an APCHA approved contractor is chosen???). That would be
helpful too and could save APCHA $ in the long run if homes are maintained and valued at the MAX( thus the
transaction recovery at sale is greater).
Don't bailout owners of their housing for deferred maintenance; no one bails out free market owners. Don't
provide anymore employee housing as it fuels growth; let employers figure out how they will house employees.
The stringent category system coupled with the inability to get a loan is ridiculous . For example , someone who
makes too much money to qualify for category 2 yet cannot get a loan is a conundrum . Don’t ya think
Proposition to increase ,buying and selling fees, up to 3% , is inacceptable!! A $3,000 fees was more than
enough, knowing all your employees have been pay with our taxes , already. Thank you
I think there should be a 3rd party rating system to rate the condition of units that are being sold & s ellers
should be penalized for not keeping units up to certain standards.
There should be better structure when it comes to rentals. And not have property management just pick and
chose who they want in in big complexes like centennial for example. Let’s have a fair list. Also, sellers should
have a guideline of the minimum standard to sell their place. They shouldn’t be able to sell places with broken
roofs and/or appliances and get credit for it, just like buyer should expect a minimum standards when buying.
Make RO units a lottery system like the rest. Right now you can only buy one if you know someone who is
selling, never listed for those that need it, and then it becomes a competition of who can pay more under the
table. This Is an open door to corruption that happens in a great number of the sales. I know too many who
have bought an RO unit that came with a $30,000 couch or a $50,000 lawn mower or more. If you want to stop
corruption this one is an easy fix, make all RO units go to lottery when sold.
I love and I am thankful for the program but it is about to be stressed beyond governance. Centennial has
proven contributions to HOA’s are inadequate. I’m sick of living in fear. Fear that my complex will hav e a major
assessment. Fear that if I have a partner and stay at their house my neighbors will say I don’t live in my unit. If I
take work down valley or elsewhere temporarily to supplement my income I fear I’ll be turned in for
noncompliance. I wish I could buy my unit out right. I would pay alot more than its value under the deed
restrictions. If you are going to ask us to invest in our housing I believe it would be best if you made some
concessions as well.
Basically, you are totally out of touch with re ality. Limit on $$ one can make, the crappy properties that are build
lousy and then to e pact owners to pay ridiculous HOA fees to try to maintain sub standard buildings. Then
owners have to sink so much money in and you wouldn’t put on the resale price a nd then you take a
commission. Basically, blood suckers!
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Compliance / Enforcement
Summary: Balance of comments based around happiness of having a stronger focus on
compliance/enforcement while another portion says we should focus less on this area and more on others
(maintenance, etc.)
I am extremely grateful for my employee housing unit and the APCHA program. I've been very impressed with
the recent focus on compliance & people scamming the system and think that is so important and should
continue. I do really think that the HOA issue has major room for improvement though. Capital Reserve Funds
in HOA's is the only way to hold all owners somewhat accountable towards necessary improvements and
maintaining units and it's a little crazy that APCHA doesn't even know if all the units have an HOA. I realize this
would be a major undertaking and could not happen quickly but my opinion is APCHA should manage all
HOA's.
Give the program & staff some teeth to enforce minimum standards. Get politics out of the process. Stop
responding to every editorial - build a solid foundation of policy and procedure and base things on that. It feels
now that APCHA is very reactive to public opinion. That cuts into people's ability to be proactive.
Other communities still continue to look to Aspen to model their programs after. The new'ish director of housing
is taking steps towards the right direction. Compliance position will hopefully keep program honest and in check
Thank you for cracking down on people breaking the rules. Focus on low income housing not North 40 mansion
projects.
I, although I’m a huge supporter of the affordable housing program, feel that there has been a somewhat
hostile and arrogant attitude from APCHA. Certainly with the enforcement department, which can basically
frighten people with the threat of losing their home. I do think residents absolutely must abide by the rules
though, but sometimes there might be some gray area, and APCHA shouldn’t just go charging in with all
barrels blazing.
be open to exceptions. I.e. a resident that has significant illness, or family members out of area that need
assistance. Keep nam es of residents under investigation confidential during investigation period, do not force
retired workers to leave friends and family
continue to beef up enforcement. also it seems that rules evolve and/or change based on who you speak to at
the housing office. Consistency if off. I try to get everything in writing and keep copies
I would recommend not expanding your control valley wide. You can barely control the abuses of Aspen and
Pitkin county housing. I live in RO housing. Two units have been sold at AABC Rowhouses with the owners not
living here during the first two years. Also the owners have over the $900k of assents allowed. The HOA also
doesn't have exterior structure insurance and very low reserve funds. If and when we sell our unit, we will ha ve
to lie to the buyers as we were lied to when we bought the structure. I feel, instead of patting yourselves on the
back and considering expanding your reach, you should concentrate on controlling the corruption that already
exists in your system.
It is massive undertaking, but I do feel there is unevenness in the way things go. Some people break rules all
the time, and there seems to be no incentive to do the right thing, no punishment.
New units should be a priority...not compliance. Come up with a plan for HOA maintenance for all properties in
system.
APCHA needs to grow a spine and call out owners who are cheating the system with their "service" animals.
Too many owners are full of shit when it comes to this, they have pets, not service dogs.
Spend more time on improvements to infrastructure and building more rental units. Stop the enforcement
emphasis that I've seen increasing. Try to not listen to the younger "entitled" complainers.
seek out people who are using their housing for personal financial gain by renting to people who don't qualify
as legal tenants and force them to pay back what they overcharged the renters
Stop the fraud. Trust funders with employee housing is bullshit. Taxes returns should be received on a yearly
basis. Proof of em ployment in Pitkin County full time should be demonstrated.
Recent non-compliance sample of 20 by Bethany Spitz included us. Handled very poorly and in a very
threatening manner, all because APCHA had incorrect email address for us. We did not appreciate the heavy-
handed implication that we were non-compliant when we absolutely were not. Could have been handled much,
much differently! Left us with a very poor impression of APCHA when previous to this event we had a very
different and positive feeling about APCHA, and an excellent relationship with the agency.
GET RID OF THE DISHONEST ABUSERS
Enforce employment regulations
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Compliance enforcement is key. I am constantly amazed at the number of owners who are in non compliance
with APCHA rules yet continue to live in employee housing.
Are there policies in place regarding APCHA ownership and disciplinary actions for perpetually offending
owners? My particular neighbor is a hoarder and she has an unruly, unsupervised teenage son who has
caused neighborhood destruction. Can those owners be forced to sell?
Thanks for hiring the Compliance officer, it's time to clean up the program and make it true and fair for all.
Additionally, I'd love to see a formal program that allows homeowners to update/upgrade their un its and be able
to recover a portion of the funds when selling. A proper program would encourage updates and help keep the
stock in good shape.
Kick mulchahy out of employee housing already. He is making a mockery of the program, and emboldening
others to also ignore the rules. His piece of crap truck looks like junk parked sideways across the sidewalk
leaking oil leaving permanent marks in the cement. The rest of the junk that he calls art just clutters up the
neighborhood. Also in Burlingame, last year a letter to homeowners was circulated about cleaning up the
common area sidewalk/porches between units. Then, not only was there no enforcement, but when I asked
about it I was told "we were directed actually not to enforce that". Another shining example of incompetence for
enforcing rules already in the HOA.
Keep up the good work on compliance
Every day I am very grateful for my affordable housing. With that said I have repeatedly notified Julie Kieffer on
a few people owning employee housing and renting it out and even supplied addresses where the violators
were currently living. In one instance she asked me why I had such a vendetta against this person and another
she was too busy a her desk to look into the complaint. She is even aware of someone violating in her own
neighborhood right under her nose. Some people in town say she is corrupt.
APCHA should work harder to qualify employees rather than work so hard to disqualify and exclude locals who
have worked and lived in Pitkin County for over 40 years. Asset caps can disqualify employees with limited
income and retirement savings.
If the rules are easily written, the compliance issues should be easier thus costing less money to operate the
association.
1. Build better quality, basic housing. The money the City and my HOA has spent to fix bad construction in my
complex is a total joke! 2. Enforce the housing rules, I know several owners who have or are currently openly
breaking the general housing rules and they know the chances of getting caught is slim to none. 3. Make sure
the HOA's are operated correctly and that the HOA rules are being enforced along with all city and state laws
and codes are being enforced at the properties.
Our HOA hasn’t had a meeting in three years and they refuse to comply. My neighbor always rents her condo
and now only had to work part time. Complaints aren’t followed up or I’m told it’s not their problem.
The impression in the community is that APHCA favors city & county employees and is not even handed. I
know of city & APCHA employees that were allowed to buy units with more bedrooms then they were qualified
for.
Please enforce or scrap the dog policy at Burlingame, everyone now has a dog. It is so easy to get a support
animal certificate online, and it’s getting abused. Also can we please set up a dog go to area around phase 2
for people to take their dogs to the bathroom, as lots of children play on the grass areas and just cleaning dog
poop of the grass doesn’t clean the grass and dogs peein g anywhere and then kids playing. It would be nice to
have a designated area for all pets to do its business.
I think increased enforcement is critical. There are too many units not being used according to the rules.
Stop people scamming the housing syst em. Abuse is taking place and abuse of property managangments
companies toward homeowners .
I love and I am thankful for the program but it is about to be stressed beyond governance. Centennial has
proven contributions to HOA’s are inadequate. I’m sick of living in fear. Fear that my complex will have a major
assessment. Fear that if I have a partner and stay at their house my neighbors will say I don’t live in my unit. If I
take work down valley or elsewhere temporarily to supplement my income I fear I’ll be turned in for
noncompliance. I wish I could buy my unit out right. I would pay alot more than its value under the deed
restrictions. If you are going to ask us to invest in our housing I believe it would be best if you made some
concessions as well.
Thank you for starting to police the housing. Abuse of our system by a some folks was getting A little out of
hand. As someone who played by the rules for 7 years and finally won the lottery, I appreciate our system. It’s
the gold standard of all mountain towns at the end of the day.
enforcement agents emit the wrong tone for Aspen, especially when APCHA is over budget
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Allow more funds to investigate fraud. 2 owners in my complex do not work, or do not work the minimum hours
needed to own a unit, but they have a friend who is a notary who will sign off on their lies.
I know the the APCHA is trying to deal with non compliance issues. However valid those issues may be, it
appears that they are taking an aggressive confrontational tone. At least that is how they appear to me in the
media and on their website. Any opportunity to be positive and value all the thankful and compliant people in
employee housing would be much obliged. Thank you for this opportun ity to give feedback. It is a good step in
the right direction.
Need better housing accommodations for the Adult professionals that live here. That means even those making
in the range of 300k per household as that is what it takes to raise a family here but still not nearly enough to
own 90% of the homes from here to GWS 2-3 bdrm units that can house a family. Also need to find a way to
properly vet those entering housing. Enforcement for those already in housing really only needs to be if they're
renting on VRBO or to non Pitco employees.
Keep working hard finding cheaters
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APCHA Operations
Summary: Suggestions on new operating procedures and continued transparency.
1. There are far more people in employee housing who are responsible, rule -abiding members of the
community than not. Please recognize this. 2. The extremely poor build quality of the units is the biggest
reason capital reserves are low, not irresponsibility of homeowners. When you are fixing siding and roofs five or
ten years into the life of your complex, you are spending money that should be in the bank for 20 more years or
more. If you build quality units now, you will help save money in the long run. 3. Pegging appreciation to CPI
and then charging a 3 percent sales fee means that in some cases you are wiping out more than three years of
appreciation. That's not right. Since the city is not spending its housing dollars, ask them for funding, don't take
3 percent from a homeowner who is seeing less than 1 percent appreciation per year. 4. ANyone who calls the
housing office with a question or a concern is often confronted with a culture of "no!" Employee housing owners
are not the enemy and the housing office is not their overlords. You serve the community. We ARE the
community. 5. You have front and center on your website that "employee housing is a privilege, not a right." But
employee housing owners and renters do HAVE rights. You expect them to act lik e responsible owners, but
there's an implication that they're living in their units at your discretion. That kind of demeaning attitude is why
people are so reluctant to take your surveys. They don't completely trust you. Build that trust. You're all good
people trying to do the right thing. That really came through at the last meeting you had to explain capital
improvements and permitting. There was a clear attitude of, "We're here to help you." It was nice. Keep that up!
Currently there are no regulations for current owners to uphold their properties. Then someone wins the lottery
for a place that has more repair needs in cost than total value. This individual is given ultimatum, pay for the
repairs or we’ll give it to the next person on the list. Completely unfair for someone to run a place into the
ground and get their money back. APCHA HAS to do a better job and fast. Everyone doesn’t have the luxury of
winning new Burlingame housing. I also don’t like the rule that an individual living in Burlingame is n’t
considered in complex when trying to move from phase 2 to phase 1. Moving from newer to older in my mind
makes sense and should be allowed. Having the restriction in for moving older to newer would still require
lottery.
Give the program & staff some teeth to enforce minimum standards. Get politics out of the process. Stop
responding to every editorial - build a solid foundation of policy and procedure and base things on that. It feels
now that APCHA is very reactive to public opinion. That cuts into people's ability to be proactive.
from what I see in the papers there are issues with people winning APCHA lotteries and finding the unit in bad
shape. APCHA should not have drawings on units that are not move in ready. also, APCHA housing should be
for people working in the valley who have low to moderate incomes. there are a lot of large expensive homes in
the inventory. the need for smaller units for single people and for low to moderate income families is more
important than subsidizing those who have large incomes. this is for both rental and owner units.
Yes, you need to change the way you place employees in categories. I know so many wealthy trust funders
living in low category housing and those of us that work are asses off cant even afford to live in the categories
you place us in because we are honest about our incomes and cant hide them. Why do you include a
percentage of our 401 & 457 retirement balances toward our net assets when you know we cant use that
money to purchase an employee unit, especially for those of us that have worked for the city for a long time
and plan on working another 10 plus years before retirement. I have worked for the city for 23 years and when I
retire in 10 years I will need to move because I cannot afford any employee units in my category. WHY??? The
category 1 & 2 units are the best units and tend to go to those that hide income. Category 3 & 4 are completely
un-affordable to any hard working single parent when you add in the monthly dues!!! If you can afford a
$500,000.00 unit why do you qualify for employee housing??? Need to do much better checks on people
applying for available units. I know one girl that made into a two bedroom lottery using her niece as the 2nd
person and her niece does not even live in CO. How did that happen??? and she is a trust funder who only
shows income on a part time job but receives a huge trust every month??? Also people purchasing free market
units under a trust or LLC and living in employee units?? This stuff is not difficult to find o ut about. Please, a
category 2 unit and the owners are driving around in brand new Range Rovers and traveling around the world
all the time, and yes neither one of them is currently working. Yes this is happening right now under your
noses, I personally know the couple.
APCHA should own up to the mistakes made during the initial stages of the program. APCHA should take
responsibility for the lack of planning for the aging units and the lack of foresight for residents improving units.
As the "middle-man" in the buying/selling scenario, APCHA can't take the money and run away from the other
financial aspects of the transaction like it historically has done. The demand for housing has been high from the
beginning which created a system where there is no room f or a lottery winner to remedy situations (inspections,
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interior improvements and structural problems) that a normal homebuyer has the option to remedy prior to
closing. Historically, lottery winners have been forced to buy for better or worse because there are no other
choices. City Council and APSCHA have utterly failed to recognize that reality. They deny any responsibility
(even though the money goes into their coffers at each sale). Both entities refuse to address the toughest
problems. They're happy with building the inventory and depositing the checks.
Thankful to Housing Authority for our family’s opportunity to live and work and make here our home.
Apcha is a fantastic program, and is why I am able to live in Pitkin the bulk of my adult life. I kno w that people
would sell their units and move somewhere else if they could afford to.any incentive to be able to sell move and
open up housing that is desperately needed. Instead what happens is housing that needs repair is being sold,
sometimes repairs are taken out of sale. I don't believe you should be financially penalized for owning an apcha
home. Whether it's in Woody Creek, n 40, or centennial. Affordability of necessary repairs to homes has to be
part of apcha. A drowning person needs a lifeline.
APCHA has a hard job. It will need continual refinement as the program matures, and from what I hear, APCHA
is tweaking its managerial direction as such changes present themselves. Good Job in my opinion. Thanks for
your efforts!
Always city & assistant mgr scapegoating program. I have been in this program since 1980. I watch and see
contradictory actions regarding a good socialized program. Do something with lumber yard please.
If someone does sight unseen lottery and refuses, they should be banned from future lotteries for 1y
More Respect for Home Owners! Do not treat us like Renters! STOP violating recognized established Federal
Fair Housing Regulations!
I would recommend not expanding your control valley wide. You can barely control the ab uses of Aspen and
Pitkin county housing. I live in RO housing. Two units have been sold at AABC Rowhouses with the owners not
living here during the first two years. Also the owners have over the $900k of assents allowed. The HOA also
doesn't have exterior structure insurance and very low reserve funds. If and when we sell our unit, we will have
to lie to the buyers as we were lied to when we bought the structure. I feel, instead of patting yourselves on the
back and considering expanding your reach, you should concentrate on controlling the corruption that already
exists in your system.
What has APCHA done to find a solution for Centennial? Why isn't APCHA taking the lead on the single
biggest issue confronting it? I'm not a Centennial homeowner, but it is the elephant in the room. This needs to
be addressed to show the executive leadership of APCHA is good enough for the challenges that lie ahead.
More control over hoa management is needed in some housing complexes. Rules are selectively enforced and
ever yday tasks are overlooked and ignored (i.e. snow removal, parking, common area light timers off schedule,
etc.) Walkthrough procedures with housing sale inconsistant. When we moved into current location, house was
a disaster, food still in fridge and cupboards, carpet nasty, cat hair everywhere (no pets allowed). When I
contacted apcha about said issues I was told "well if you don't want the place we can put it back on the market
or give it to the next person."
Woody creek metro board is a mess. No oversight, no structure, if there was An option for our family with pets
to move to suitable housing we would in a second. This metro district has been a nightmare for the 14 years we
have lived here with no end in sight. Some kind of oversight from a governmental body would be awesome.
It is massive undertaking, but I do feel there is unevenness in the way things go. Some people break rules all
the time, and there seems to be no incentive to do the right thing, no punishment.
I don't see the listings in the Daily News any more. I think it's important to publicize those, either in the
newspaper or the APCHA newsletter. Both for-sale and rentals.
Many of the rules are ridiculous and out of date. Our house is 30+ years old and it would be cheaper to tear it
down and replace it than to repair all the issues we inherited, but we are not allowed to do that. No common
sense to the system.
Dog policies should be relaxed
Overall great job. I would like to see easier and more flexible options for upgrades to owner units . For example,
cabinets, oven, etc.
There has to be some better way then pulling names out of a hat for the housing lottery. Even if you've been
hear for 12 years you get beat out by people that have been here the minimum.
I love my apartment, I live at Centennial. APCHA really has to make sure the Maintenance is done yearly and
not left for years and years....
I think APCHA is moving in a positive direction and while it will take some time to improve, it will happen.
Treat your Pitkin County partners with the respect due "equal" partners. They started the whole program. The
city is a bully.
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We are immensely grateful for the opportunity to buy an APCHA home; we would not be here, able to raise our
family, without this housing. This cannot be overstated. Yet, working with APCHA's bureaucracy and rule-
bound staff for more than a decade has been equally frustrating. We follow the letter and spirit of affordable
housing but anytime we have had to interact with staff, we are treated as if we are trying to get away with
something, met with skepticism and stiff arms. Despite all the gratitude I feel for our home, when I think of
APCHA, I feel disappointment. So much missed opportunity to engage and support the community.
Stop the fraud. Trust funders with employee housing is bullshit. Taxes returns should be received on a yearly
basis. Proof of employment in Pitkin County full time should be demonstrated.
More accountability for those selling units to honor the sellers contract that they sign. To clean the unit etc.
APCHA does not enforce it. Get sellers to give $2000 to APCHA and they can get it back if the unit is passed
over clean and in working order.
A few specifics: 1. I don't understand how 1 million dollar plus homes in Burlingame best serves our
community. I understand surgeons need homes as well, but at some price point, don't free market options
become available? ...seems like we could have housed more intermediate income folks in that space. 2. The
city is selling off a home a co-worker was renting by the Ice Garden (featured in the local paper a couple
months ago - Hyman Ave?). The co-worker was a local Physical Therapist, his wife a Nurse in the HHS
building, and they have two children. The potential sale of the home they had lived in for years gave them an
opportunity to leave the valley, which they did. The valley lost two healthcare professionals, at least partially,
because the city put their employee housing up for sale. I want to make sure ALL the money from that sale
goes back into affordable housing, as the city has claimed will happen. I hope folks in the right positions are
keeping an eye on that property. 3. I appreciate the ramped up efforts to enforce rules and stop abuses of an
affordable housing system that we are very fortunate to have - enforcements should continue. However, as an
owner of a house in Aspen Village, I don't understand why I shouldn't be able to rent my property (airBnB etc.)
while I'm away on a vacation as long as I meet my obligations of 1500 hours working in the valley each year. I
think the regulations may need some refining. 4. Finally, I am happy with my house, which I couldn't own
without the work of the county and APCHA. But, many of my peers - 30-something graduate degree-holding
professionals, many with young families - are having a hard time making it in this valley because they have
very limited options for buying housing. I think this population of highly trained and specialized workers who
make good, but not great money, can som etimes get left behind in the system of subsidies. We make too much
to get help with things like healthcare and taxes. Any savings we have counts against us in the housing
categories system. We spend the great majority our money on taxes, housing, and dayc are - the extreme cost
of living here doesn't allow us to get ahead in any way. We need skilled workers who can live prosperous lives
and retire comfortably at 65. As a valley-wide community, we need to put a lot of thought into how our housing
system helps retain those people who could live much more financially sound lives elsewhere.
Get real about allowing pets in homes that are owned (not rented). Times have changed, let's not use the
emotional support animal "work around" for decades to come.
When I purchased my 1983 mobile home (Smuggler Run), I did it because my daughter and I were in jeopardy
of losing our Truscott apartment and it was the best option for us at the time. I was thrilled that I won the
housing lottery, I still am. However, the inspection came back with several items needed and I was told that I
could either take it or leave it because someone would and that there was no room for negotiation. I was forced
to pay more than the home was worth. The sellers were able to live in a home, never maintain it or handle any
issues and then move out getting full price for the home. I found out a month after I had purchased the home
that I owned a retaining wall (NEVER DISCLOSED) and that is was in serious need of repair or it could
collapse. The cost would be $30K. I then had to replace the roof which is not a cheap ticket item (due to leaks),
the radon needed mitigated, the windows were cracked and needed new glass, the dryer they left caught on
fire, there were two gas leaks (one in the furnace and one in a line to the house), they left tons of personal
items I had to remove off of the property, the walls and floors were saturated heavily with smoke and had to be
painted and replaced, the roof had leaked and caused significant mold and water damage to the water heater
closet, the house still needs new siding/to be painted as it is molding and falling off the sides, the gutters all
need replaced, the front door has settled and there is a huge air gap and needs to be rebuilt. The costs are
SIGNIFICANT and also the reason the other trailers are not being maintained. Something has to be done about
this. These homes need to be restructured ASAP. This is not the way that these homes should be maintained
or the way that to treat the buyers. Yes, back when they were new, sure...it worked, but these need to be
restructured immediately. The buyers need the ability to make these repairs and the means to do so, you
cannot just put them in inhabitable homes and tell them to take it or leave it. It is not good busi ness and I do not
believe any of you would want to be treated that way. Mobile homes need to be RO. They need to be looked at
individually because some need more repairs than others and these are not all just units within the same
complex with the same walls and same structures and equipment. Thank you.
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Understanding that the affordable housing program and all of its various designations is a complicated and at
times difficult program to administer (and notwithstanding how grateful I am for it), I would like to see APCHA
undertake a stronger education role in overseeing the program than an adversarial one. Strongly stressing the
governing documents of the relevant HOA to a buyer along with APCHA's guidelines and compliance rules
might help prevent unnecessary brain damage and hostility for all parties concerned in the future. Stressing
positively early on what is expected of a new homeowner and perhaps establishing contact with the new
homeowner's HOA board to also encourage educating that individual on the HOA governing documents might
eliminate possible confusion and non-compliance later on. The information "burden" should be shared by all
entities. Thank you.
I am not in a position to consider downsizing for a while. but when that comes, it would be great to create some
incentive to making me do it... I live in one of the best APCHA houses there is and I will eventually not need a 3
bedrooms. However, there is no incentive to downsize. One idea I have is to offer me a higher return on my
investment (5% vs 3%, for instance) so that I can afford to make the move to a lower free market unit possibly
or just move to another APCHA unit that fits my needs
I was very disappointed with the quality of my unit. I bought it brand new but it came with several defects. The
"warranty" program administered thru the city of Aspen does not work well. Several requests and lots of time
has passed and not all issues have been resolved yet. Last but not least, the property management at
Burlingame Ranch is awful. Inefficient, unresponsive and entitled. Nothing gets done and there seems to be a
lot confusion about roles and responsibility between the HOA and management. Overall chaotic and
disappointing. Lots can be improved.
Decision making by APCHA is sclerotic. The City Council needs to be more engaged with the problems with
affordable housing. Barry Crook acts as a barrier between APCHA and City Council and between homeowners
and City Council. City Council gives him directives that he ignores. Amazing that HOA's actually have to
engage in lawsuits in order to get any action. Pathetic.
This survey is a farce. Under the new executive director, APCHA has stopped serving the community and has
adopted a police-state approach to justify bigger budgets. $450/housing unit for a computer system?! A direct -
elected board is the most obvious solution, as the current selection process lacks independence/backbone .
Get control of HOA's. Ours keeps raising the fees in what feels like a nonsustainable way. They also have no
governance. As a new homeowner is a pretty unfair situation to walk into as our HOA consists of our neighbors.
It would be better if APCHA hired 3rd party HOAs for every housing property.
APCHA should participate in ensuring that properties are maintained. Owners should be penalized for not
keeping up their homes when it comes time to sell. HOAs should undergo yearly inspections by an APCHA
agent to confirm that they are maintaining shared infrastructure appropriately. APCHA/City of Aspen should be
banking land close to the urban center for future housing development or open space reserves (why didn't they
buy the USFS land?!) Kicking workers out of units upon retirement does not support a healthy community.
APCHA board should remain comprised of dedicated community members, not elected officials, and should be
given more authority/decision-making power than they currently have.
Thanks for the opportunity to provide feedback. This is the first time we’ve been asked to contribute, and it is
refreshing. We are so lucky to have this program in our community, and it is just about the only thing that has
(barely) saved Aspen from becoming a hollowed-out shell, void of all but the one percent. As with so many
issues in Aspen, the genesis of the program is critical; it should be respected and honored. I believe it was
intended as community housing for people at all stages of live, not simply those in the workforce. It bothers me
that the current manager of the program is fostering a less inclusive narrative that runs counter to the original
Aspen value of appreciating all community members for their varied contributions. It is agonizing to see people
being pitted against each other, young vs old, in this retiree housing question, when the real cause of the
problem, the larger economic forces of inequality, go unquestioned. Aspen was a leader on this issue, and it
could be again. Just as those who created this program had to fight political battles and invest time and dollars
to make it happen, those who want to see more housing options today need to work within the system to build
more, demand more, and be creative, and not simply cannibalize the program we have now.
RO housing gets no help financially so should not have any of your rules! Or you can help pay for infra -
structure! It is almost impossible to make 1500 hours working 2 seasonal jobs in this valley. That number is a
joke!!
Work with the town of Snowmass to create fairness. Snowmass employees are eligible for APCHA housing
however Pitkin County employees are last priority in Snowmass Housing. A couple with 40 years combined
work history in Pitkin County has less priority than a single person with 1 year snowmass work history. Does
not make sense...
Don't bailout owners of their housing for deferred maintenance; no one bails out free market owners. Don't
provide anymore employee housing as it fuels growth; let employers figure out how they will hous e employees.
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When an APCHA owner retires, there was some talk about allowing that owner to leave for 6 months per year
thus freeing the unit for another worker to live in for that period of time. Is this official already?
APCHA acts more like we are there for them rather than they are helping us.
think it would be great to allow APCHA home owners to allow a 1 week vacation rental. Many locals have
seasonal jobs and travel, and this could help with finances, and alleviate rental violations. Something to
consider.
APCHA should work harder to qualify employees rather than work so hard to disqualify and exclude locals who
have worked and lived in Pitkin County for over 40 years. Asset caps can disqualify employees with limited
income and retirement savings.
If the rules are easily written, the compliance issues should be easier thus costing less money to operate the
association.
More opportunities to rent out while away for extended time for seniors.
Biggest suggestion is to find a better way to communicate with owners effectively. I've sent many emails in the
past with questions regarding requirements for capital improvements. I received zero responses. it feels like all
APCHA cares about at the end of the day, is sales and fees.
The stringent category system coupled with the inability to get a loan is ridiculous . For example , someone who
makes too much money to qualify for category 2 yet cannot get a loan is a conundrum . Don’t ya think
APCHA is an excellent program which, unfortunately, was never reviewed comprehensively by elected or paid
governmental officials since the program's inception in 1972. The appointed Boards have been ineffectual in
part because of changes in the IGAs, as well as lack of leadership by prior directors and City/County
management and elected officials. As one of the community's greatest assets, it is appropriately undergoing a
comprehensive review. It is also imperative that the message to the public about this program which is integral
to the success of Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley be presented in a positive fashion.
Be more helpful with hoa boards when it comes to how to run their units. No one at Apcha offers advice. There
is no one to turn to when boards need guidance
Proposition to increase ,buying and selling fees, up to 3% , is inacceptable!! A $3,000 fees was more than
enough, knowing all your employees have been pay with our taxes , already. Thank you
The impression in the community is that APHCA favors city & county employees and is not even handed. I
know of city & APCHA employees that were allowed to buy units with more bedrooms then they were qualified
for.
I realize housing is becoming harder to find and a big impact on that is the VRBO and airBNB properties as well
as older homes being purchased, remodeled and rented for a larger price tag, but this is an issue in most
places, not just RFV. It's happening on the front range and larger cities across the country. I have been living
here 25 years and it took over 20 to finally have the opportunity to purchase employee housing. It's hard to get
but it's also an amazing opportunity, not a right. You are literally winning a lottery. I know there is a vocal group
in Aspen that wants to make a lot of changes but housing is hard in many places, not just here, and you have
to get creative, live together, that is reality. The one change I can support is the possibility of increasing the wait
period to more than 4 years to purchase employee housing. That may help secure a population that is very
committed to the community for a life time. As someone who has been here almost 3 decades, our older, local
population adds a ton of benefit and character to this town and I would hate to see that get pushed out. The
APCHA has always worked well in my opinion, and at times I didn't live in employee housing, but you make
due, working as many jobs as necessary and having as many roommates as needed to stay here. It would be
great to have more rentals properties, as a business owner in Aspen, it is difficult to get and maintain
employees due to this issue, however it's not just a problem with the APCHA, it's valley wide and related to how
the whole home rental business is working now, as I mentioned above, and that is out of the c ontrol of the
APCHA.
I think the program is important and has great intentions. It is becoming overly administrative. Smart regulations
are fine, but careful about getting too over zealous.
APCHA is a program with an impossible task--to make the unaffordable, affordable. APCHA's task has become
even more challenging now that moving down-valley is not longer an affordable option. The new choice for the
Aspen working class is to secure APCHA housing or leave the valley for good. I believe APCHA's mission
should be to provide an opportunity for those who have committed themselves to the Aspen area the ability to
stay. This means providing housing in a variety of formats and sizes. I have noticed a propensity for 1 -bedroom
housing to be built recently, which i great. I live in a 1-bed apartment and am lucky to have it. However, as I
look to the possible future of starting a family, I have extremely-limited options for a larger unit. We want to stay
in Aspen, but we can't live in a 1-bedroom apartment forever.
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some of the unfairness/infractions of purchase lies within those working for apcha itself; getting a larger unit
because of falsifications on applying. In a small town it is difficult to keep personalities out of decision -making
by the apcha department and/or individual condo assoc., so perhaps hire a person who is the director of each
assoc. who oversees the running of each complex? Also, the current attorney hired by apcha is a real joke -
totally inept in implementing and showing the proper behavior and decisions of a legally trained individual!
There should be better structure when it comes to rentals. And not have property management just pick and
chose who they want in in big complexes like centennial for example. Let’s have a fair list. Also, sellers should
have a guideline of the minimum standard to sell their place. They shouldn’t be able to sell places with broken
roofs and/or appliances and get credit for it, just like buyer should expect a minimum standards when buying.
Make RO units a lottery system like the rest. Right now you can only buy one if you know someone who is
selling, never listed for those that need it, and then it becomes a competition of who can pay more under the
table. This Is an open door to corruption that happens in a great number of the sales. I know too many who
have bought an RO unit that came with a $30,000 couch or a $50,000 lawn mower or more. If you want to stop
corruption this one is an easy fix, make all RO units go to lottery when sold.
I love and I am thankful for the program but it is about to be stressed beyond governance. Centennial has
proven contributions to HOA’s are inadequate. I’m sick of living in fear. Fear that my complex will have a major
assessment. Fear that if I have a partner and stay at their house my neighbors will say I don’t live in my unit. If I
take work down valley or elsewhere temporarily to supplement my income I fear I’ll be turned in for
noncompliance. I wish I could buy my unit out right. I would pay alot more than its value under the deed
restrictions. If you are going to ask us to invest in our housing I believe it would be best if you made some
concessions as well.
Stop being used as a pawn of our govts elected officials and staff in order to make them feel morally superior
while they denigrate and castigate the owners and renters who are desperately trying to survive within this
flawed and neglected program
Spend some money and build more housing like Annie Mitchell. Quit wa iting for Fornell and do it yourselves.
APCHA has plenty of money in the bank, spend it before Aspen is all old people and it’s too late. Make the
developers pay more, duh!!! They don’t deserve how easy they get out of employee housing.
The affordable housing program should be considered a critical infrastructure to this region. The current
program is something my family truly appreciates and is grateful for those who had the foresight to create and
grow the program. It truly helps make the economy work a bit smoother than without it. We appreciate your
time surveying your customers. It might have been helpful to inquire about which neighborhood the
respondents live to see if there are any noticeable issues specific to a particular area. Thank you!
Some ideas that would be nice : - more family-type units such as townhomes, duplexes, row houses, or modest
single family homes. -units with the ability to be expanded to add another bedroom/bathroom (at the owners
expense). -the ability to rightsize within the deed-restricted community. If I find a retired couple in a single
family home that desires to trade with my smaller condo, we should be able to approach APHCA to make such
a transfer happen with ease. Inter-program transfers so that size or location better fits current owners should be
encouraged by APCHA. -community housing is what keeps this town vibrant. We need retirees (who have
worked and laid down roots) to be able to retain housing where their friends and family are. Likewise for kids
who grow up in employee housing and want to continue to live and work in the hometown they love as adults. If
we only cater to seasonal young singles, there will be no investment in community. -a slight advantage in the
lottery for professions who serve the community with invaluable and highly specific skill sets such as teachers,
police, EMS/911 dispatchers, nurses, and physicians And . . . I am so thankful to be able to afford to live where
I work. I wish APCHA the best during these transitional times.
enforcement agents emit the wrong tone for Aspen, especially when APCHA is over budget
Implement incentive program for owners to maintain units and to ensure value of home matches income
category
APCHA has given us nothing but hassles. Aspen village was already a subdiv ision in reality, since the mid
1960’s. We were forced to go under APCHA guidelines for approval of our “subdivision” 30 years later. There
was a bridge loan. It was paid with interest. But approval for our “subdivision “ was held up at the last second,
unless we agreed to come under APCHA guidelines. We need housing here. In general, I like and appreciate
the work you do to provide more housing. But in our case, we had our own housing. You simply forced/coerced
us under your program
Reduce substantially the city permit fees on any capital improvement or maintenance item requiring a permit.
Basically, you are totally out of touch with reality. Limit on $$ one can make, the crappy properties that are build
lousy and then to e pact owners to pay ridiculous HOA fees to try to maintain sub standard buildings. Then
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owners have to sink so much money in and you wouldn’t put on the resale price and then you take a
commission. Basically, blood suckers!
Support community involvement Lessen Employment as a service to the community Quit supporting employers
with indentured service
I know the the APCHA is trying to deal with non compliance issues. However valid those issues may be, it
appears that they are taking an aggressive confrontational tone. At least that is how they appear to me in the
media and on their website. Any opportunity to be positive and value all the thankful and compliant people in
employee housing would be much obliged. Thank you for this opportunity to give feedback. It is a good step in
the right direction.
The gals at housing can be really rude. The categories are rediculous.
I’m all for dissolving APCHA as it stands now. They are full of headstrong leaders who put ego before empathy.
They refused to help us as homeowners while our HOA abused us and showed zero aptitude for how they
could have been better. Shameful. Ron Erickson illegally manages HOA’s without the proper certifications from
the State of Colorado. Nobody cares though...
Apcha needs to stop trying to control Smuggler Park which it keeps I assisting is Affordable housing but which
technically is not since it does not conform to the definitions of RO housing and has no cap on income, owning
other properties, appreciation, work requirements, etc etc
I think you should have board members who are citizens of the awesome community to guide, assist, and
support the vision.
I do believe that people should be able to retire in employee housing. If people have put in the time to serve
this community, they deserve to be able to stay in their current housing. I also believe that the age that
someone retires in employee should be examined. I would suggest that instead of only using the retirement
age, you also consider using time worked in Pitkin County. For example, either 30 years of employme nt or age
67. This way people who have worked hard, saved, and invested wisely can retire earlier if they so choose.
Forcing everyone to wait until 67 until retirement isn't fair to those that work really hard so that they can retire
early.
Allowing more time for seniors to travel and be away from their units.
Need better housing accommodations for the Adult professionals that live here. That means even those making
in the range of 300k per household as that is what it takes to raise a family here but sti ll not nearly enough to
own 90% of the homes from here to GWS 2-3 bdrm units that can house a family. Also need to find a way to
properly vet those entering housing. Enforcement for those already in housing really only needs to be if they're
renting on VRBO or to non Pitco employees.
More transparency please
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APCHA Staff
Summary: Many positve comments about positives interactions with APCHA staff. Negative comments
surround rudeness and rules "changing" based on who you talk to.
1. There are far more people in employee housing who are responsible, rule -abiding members of the
community than not. Please recognize this. 2. The extremely poor build quality of t he units is the biggest
reason capital reserves are low, not irresponsibility of homeowners. When you are fixing siding and roofs five or
ten years into the life of your complex, you are spending money that should be in the bank for 20 more years or
more. If you build quality units now, you will help save money in the long run. 3. Pegging appreciation to CPI
and then charging a 3 percent sales fee means that in some cases you are wiping out more than three years of
appreciation. That's not right. Since the city is not spending its housing dollars, ask them for funding, don't take
3 percent from a homeowner who is seeing less than 1 percent appreciation per year. 4. ANyone who calls the
housing office with a question or a concern is often confronted with a culture of "no!" Employee housing owners
are not the enemy and the housing office is not their overlords. You serve the community. We ARE the
community. 5. You have front and center on your website that "employee housing is a privilege, not a right." But
employee housing owners and renters do HAVE rights. You expect them to act like responsible owners, but
there's an implication that they're living in their units at your discretion. That kind of demeaning attitude is why
people are so reluctant to take your surveys. They don't completely trust you. Build that trust. You're all good
people trying to do the right thing. That really came through at the last meeting you had to explain capital
improvements and permitting. There was a clear attitude of, "We're here to help you." It was nice. Keep that up!
I, although I’m a huge supporter of the affordable housing program, feel that there has been a somewhat
hostile and arrogant attitude from APCHA. Certainly with the enforcement department, which can basically
frighten people with the threat of losing their home. I do think residents absolutely must abide by the rules
though, but sometimes there might be some gray area, and APCHA shouldn’t just go charging in with all
barrels blazing.
continue to beef up enforcement. also it seems that rules evolve and/or change based on who you speak to at
the housing office. Consistency if off. I try to get everything in writing and keep copies
Great job Mike and staff! Please keep yourselves independent.
APCHA has a hard job. It will need continual refinement as the program matures, and from what I hear, APCHA
is tweaking its managerial direction as such changes present themselves. Good Job in my opinion. Thanks for
your efforts!
What has APCHA done to find a solution for Centen nial? Why isn't APCHA taking the lead on the single
biggest issue confronting it? I'm not a Centennial homeowner, but it is the elephant in the room. This needs to
be addressed to show the executive leadership of APCHA is good enough for the challenges tha t lie ahead.
housing office staff are great
Pam in the office is fantastic and has a great attitude and some great ideas for APCHA to be better for people
that follow the rules and actually take care of their properties you should listen to her. Others i n the office are
rude and arrogant.
Pam in the office is fantastic and has a great attitude and some great ideas for APCHA to be better for people
that follow the rules and actually take care of their properties you should listen to her. Others in the office are
rude and arrogant.
More control over hoa management is needed in some housing complexes. Rules are selectively enforced and
everyday tasks are overlooked and ignored (i.e. snow removal, parking, common area light timers off schedule,
etc.) Walkthrough procedures with housing sale inconsistant. When we moved into current location, house was
a disaster, food still in fridge and cupboards, carpet nasty, cat hair everywhere (no pets allowed). When I
contacted apcha about said issues I was told "well if you don't want the place we can put it back on the market
or give it to the next person."
It has been a great experience and a wonderful opportunity to live and work in Aspen! Pam is amazing!
You guys are awesome - thanks for all your hard work and making Aspen a better place!
My recent contact to resolve an issue was handled in a quick and successful manner.
We are immensely grateful for the opportunity to buy an APCHA home; we would not be here, able to raise our
family, without this housing. This cannot be overstated. Yet, working with APCHA's bureaucracy and rule-
bound staff for more than a decade has been equally frustrating. We follow the letter and spirit of affordable
housing but anytime we have had to interact with staff, we are treated as if we are trying to get away with
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something, met with skepticism and stiff arms. Despite all the gratitude I feel for our home, when I think of
APCHA, I feel disappointment. So much missed opportunity to engage and support the community.
Recent non-compliance sample of 20 by Bethany Spitz included us. Handled very poorly and in a very
threatening manner, all because APCHA had incorrect email address for us. We did not appreciate the heavy-
handed implication that we were non-compliant when we absolutely were not. Could have been handled much,
much differently! Left us with a very poor impression of APCHA when previous to this event we had a very
different and positive feeling about APCHA, and an excellent relationship with the agency.
Decision making by APCHA is sclerotic. The City Council needs to be more engaged with the problems with
affordable housing. Barry Crook acts as a barrier between APCHA and City Council and between homeowners
and City Council. City Council gives him directives that he ignores. Amazing that HOA's actually have to
engage in lawsuits in order to get any action. Pathetic.
This survey is a farce. Under the new executive director, APCHA has stopped serving the community and has
adopted a police-state approach to justify bigger budgets. $450/housing unit for a computer system?! A direct -
elected board is the most obvious solution, as the current selection process lacks independence/backbone.
Julie, Pam and Cindy are fantastic to work with. Thanks!
Every day I am very grateful for my affordable housing. With that said I have repeatedly notified Julie Kieffer on
a few people owning employee housing and renting it out and even supplied addresses where the violators
were currently living. In one instance she asked me why I had such a ven detta against this person and another
she was too busy a her desk to look into the complaint. She is even aware of someone violating in her own
neighborhood right under her nose. Some people in town say she is corrupt.
Be more helpful with hoa boards when it comes to how to run their units. No one at Apcha offers advice. There
is no one to turn to when boards need guidance
Office staff is very friendly and helpful
I think the program is important and has great intentions. It is becoming overly administrative. Smart regulations
are fine, but careful about getting too over zealous.
enforcement agents emit the wrong tone for Aspen, especially when APCHA is over budget
some of the unfairness/infractions of purchase lies within t hose working for apcha itself; getting a larger unit
because of falsifications on applying. In a small town it is difficult to keep personalities out of decision -making
by the apcha department and/or individual condo assoc., so perhaps hire a person who is the director of each
assoc. who oversees the running of each complex? Also, the current attorney hired by apcha is a real joke -
totally inept in implementing and showing the proper behavior and decisions of a legally trained individual!
The gals at housing can be really rude. The categories are rediculous.
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Miscellaneous
Summary: Majority of comments thanks about the ability to live in the Roaring Foark Area, many said they would not be able to do that without APCHA.
my customers here need me, the ski co uses me full time, my neighbors are great, And with out APCHA I may have to have left, I appreciate all the hard work from APCHA I thank you
I am very happy with my housing situation. Thank you very much. Oliver
APCHA has been generally amazing. Centennial original construction sucked - noise and leaks. It ain't the wall
maintenance - walls should just need paint. Mold was discovered in ?95?The more politics are involved the less you will be trusted
Other communities still continue to look to Aspen to model their programs after. The new'ish director of housing is
taking steps towards the right direction. Compliance position will hopefully keep program honest and in checkN/A - I’m pretty happy!
Not at the moment. Thank you. Actually, because of this program I am able to work, live, and play in this amazing
community. Thank you.W/O the program we would not still be living in Aspen. To my knowledge it’s the best ski town affordable housing
program out there. So great job and keep up the good work!Always city & assistant mgr scapegoating program. I have been in this program since 1980. I watch and see
contradictory actions regarding a good socialized program. Do something with lumber yard please.Thank you!
If you’re determined to live here it’s possible
Thank you!
Thanks
So happy I'm able to live in this area and I have you and this program to thank for that!
Do a better job
thank you for providing housing for the workers who want to call aspen home
Thank you, buying my home was my dream and long time goal finally reached.
Even though our homes are deed restricted, it is important that we are afforded the ability to enjoy the rights and
pride of ownership. We are paying a much larger percent of our income towards our mortgage than the average
American homeowner. Some would say, “then go live somewhere else,” but I think our family (and many like ours)
brings much more to the community than second home owners. My spouse and I provide services to citizens and
visitors. We serve on boards of non-profits, coach, are involved with the local schools, and bring decades of history
Is it allowed for someone to build in Garfield County $85,000 improvement loan to build a single-family home on 10
acres while they own a home in Aspen through the ASpen Housing Authority?It has been a great experience and a wonderful opportunity to live and work in Aspen! Pam is amazing!
Keep up the good work
Solo-prenuers and remote workers also need affordable office space.
It’s my house and neighbors can suck it!
I’m not sure what APCHA does for my neighbor hood.
I'm am SO grateful for my employee housing!
HOA reserves and deferred maintenance are big problems. My HOA dues are approaching my mortgage payment
with no end in site. Poor construction of our complex has resulted in crumbling common areas that are too
I think it is wonderful that you are conducting this survey! Better lines of communication between the community
and APCHA are helpful and desired.Thank you APCHA for all you do! You are great!
Thank you!
We are immensely grateful for the opportunity to buy an APCHA home; we would not be here, able to raise our
family, without this housing. This cannot be overstated. Yet, working with APCHA's bureaucracy and rule-bound
staff for more than a decade has been equally frustrating. We follow the letter and spirit of affordable housing but
I was a seasonal worker once, seasonal housing allowed me to get a foot in the door (Marolt Ranch) and I have
since rented (Centennial) and then owned 2 RO's. I believe I am an APTCHA success as now my wife and I have
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A few specifics: 1. I don't understand how 1 million dollar plus homes in Burlingame best serves our community. I
understand surgeons need homes as well, but at some price point, don't free market options become available?
...seems like we could have housed more intermediate income folks in that space. 2. The city is selling off a home
a co-worker was renting by the Ice Garden (featured in the local paper a couple months ago - Hyman Ave?). The
co-worker was a local Physical Therapist, his wife a Nurse in the HHS building, and they have two children. The
potential sale of the home they had lived in for years gave them an opportunity to leave the valley, which they did.
The valley lost two healthcare professionals, at least partially, because the city put their employee housing up for
sale. I want to make sure ALL the money from that sale goes back into affordable housing, as the city has claimed
will happen. I hope folks in the right positions are keeping an eye on that property. 3. I appreciate the ramped up
efforts to enforce rules and stop abuses of an affordable housing system that we are very fortunate to have -
Thanks for creating this survey. Keep up the great work!
I’m thankful every day for the affordable housing home I received!
Very challenging topic. Thanks for all the hard work! My comment on building defects is related to Burlingame
Phase 1 ending up in litigation and Phase 2 just voted to pursue legal means if necessary to remedy seven figure
More surveys, please!.. and with even more specific questions too! Thank you.
Without APCHA the Roaring Fork Valley would not function as a community. Locals would never be able to live
here long term. The system isn't perfect but it helps a whole lot people call this valley their home. Thank you !APCHA has a very difficult job; The program has been amazing but needs to be re-visioned for the next 40 years.
Things have changed ( not telling you anything) and the housing needs to remain viable for owners and renters.
Addressing upkeep of units by owners and financial returns available is critical for keeping units in working order.
Perhaps in the purchase agreements, from now forward, there could be an upgrade and inspection requirement.
Standard upgrades( painting every X years/ new appliances(?? etc) every X years and the dates are firm for
I am a new APCHA homeowner and feel incredibly lucky to live in my homeThanks for the opportunity to provide feedback. This is the first time we’ve been asked to contribute, and it is
refreshing. We are so lucky to have this program in our community, and it is just about the only thing that has
(barely) saved Aspen from becoming a hollowed-out shell, void of all but the one percent. As with so many issues
in Aspen, the genesis of the program is critical; it should be respected and honored. I believe it was intended as
community housing for people at all stages of live, not simply those in the workforce. It bothers me that the current
manager of the program is fostering a less inclusive narrative that runs counter to the original Aspen value of
Work with the town of Snowmass to create fairness. Snowmass employees are eligible for APCHA housing
however Pitkin County employees are last priority in Snowmass Housing. A couple with 40 years combined work
I am SO GRATEFUL
The only reason my house is part of Apcha is when we subdivided the location where it is located and Apcha got
it's hands on it in a jurisdictional grab. Apcha had nothing to do with helping out , funding wise with the residents Thanks
Good survey. You hit the important points.
so grateful for APCHA and the opportunity to live and work in Aspen. Thank you! Love Burlingame neighborhood.
Fairway III in Snowmass governed by whom? Pitkin County, APCHA.
Thank you for your hard work. Hang in there. Knowing where we are starting and what our values are is a great
place to start. The next step will reveal itself.I realize housing is becoming harder to find and a big impact on that is the VRBO and airBNB properties as well as
older homes being purchased, remodeled and rented for a larger price tag, but this is an issue in most places, not
just RFV. It's happening on the front range and larger cities across the country. I have been living here 25 years
and it took over 20 to finally have the opportunity to purchase employee housing. It's hard to get but it's also an
amazing opportunity, not a right. You are literally winning a lottery. I know there is a vocal group in Aspen that
wants to make a lot of changes but housing is hard in many places, not just here, and you have to get creative, live
together, that is reality. The one change I can support is the possibility of increasing the wait period to more than 4
We are living in our dream affordable house in a wonderfully realized neighborhood. It took us 22 years to get a
home and THANK YOU!Get out of my life. I live in Aspen Village. Pitkin County did not subsidize Aspen Village one penny. You had no right
to make us "employee housing". We paid for everything. You should be ashamed of yourselves.I really appreciate the program, it has allowed us to live and work in this wonderful community. Without it and
current free market rent, we would not be able to live here and raise our kids.The affordable housing program should be considered a critical infrastructure to this region. The current program is
something my family truly appreciates and is grateful for those who had the foresight to create and grow the
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Some ideas that would be nice : - more family-type units such as townhomes, duplexes, row houses, or modest
single family homes. -units with the ability to be expanded to add another bedroom/bathroom (at the owners
expense). -the ability to rightsize within the deed-restricted community. If I find a retired couple in a single family
home that desires to trade with my smaller condo, we should be able to approach APHCA to make such a transfer
happen with ease. Inter-program transfers so that size or location better fits current owners should be encouraged
I love you guys. You made it possible for me to raise my family in Aspen! I came onto housing in 2001 when there
was a large amount of building the APCHA. I would love to see this happen more for the new generation coming
I wouldn’t be able to work 3 jobs and parent my children without my housing , I would have had to move out of the
valleyI don't have any answers however having 2 children and a dog as a single parent here, our options were extremely
limited to say he least. I lucked out because I had savings and could buy a 2 bedroom however it's not ideal lacing
Thanks for all the hard work. I know it’s not easy.
I know the the APCHA is trying to deal with non compliance issues. However valid those issues may be, it appears
that they are taking an aggressive confrontational tone. At least that is how they appear to me in the media and on
We’re grateful for APCHA.
Thank you for allowing us to own a beautiful apartment in this perfect town!!! THANK YOU APCHA
thank you
On question #4, my purchase of APCHA housing was affordable, today that is not the case. The prices are getting
out of control for the unit's worth. Young people can not afford to stay here.My residence has worked out well for me but without any good options for downsizing or senior housing I will
continue to live in my unit with several empty bedrooms for the foreseeable future.
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