HomeMy WebLinkAboutagenda.council.worksession.20250512AGENDA
CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION
May 12, 2025
4:00 PM, City Council Chambers
427 Rio Grande Place, Aspen
I.Work Session
I.A West Mountain Regional Housing Coalition
I.B Habitat for Humanity Modular Factory Update
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May 12 WMRHC Memo - Aspen Staff.docx
May 12 WMRHC Memo.docx
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MEMORANDUM
TO:Mayor and City Council
FROM:Liz Axberg, Housing Policy Analyst
THROUGH:Diane Foster, Deputy City Manager
MEMO DATE:May 5, 2025
MEETING DATE:May 12, 2025
RE:West Mountain Regional Housing Coalition
_____________________________________________________________________
REQUEST OF COUNCIL:This is a work session presentation by the West Mountain
Regional Housing Coalition (WMRHC) with a funding request to contribute to the 2025
Good Deeds regional deed restriction program.
SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND:The City of Aspen is a founding member of the
West Mountain Regional Housing Coalition nonprofit organization, which has a mission
of increasing workforce housing in the Roaring Fork region with an emphasis on
development neutral strategies. In 2024, Aspen City Council approved a $450,000
contribution to the nonprofit’s deed restriction purchase program. This program has
helped preserve middle income housing through converting free market homes into
deed restricted units in perpetuity. After a successful first year of the program, WMRHC
is continuing the program in 2025 with an additional funding request.
Regional collaboration is one of the actions identified within the approved 2024-2028
Affordable Housing Strategic Plan which was approved by City Council in July 2024.
DISCUSSION: West Mountain Regional Housing Coalition’s included memo provides
more information on the program background, the 2024 success of the program, and
the 2025 funding request.
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FINANCIAL IMPACTS: West Mountain Regional Housing Coalition is requesting $1
million to support the Good Deeds program in 2025. This contribution would be through
the 150- Housing Development Fund.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS:Thousands of affordable housing units are needed in
the upper Roaring Fork Valley, according to the 2019 Greater Roaring Fork Regional
Housing study, a problem that has been exacerbated since the beginning of the COVID
19 pandemic. The deed restriction purchase program converts existing free market
housing into deed restricted housing, with the intent of creating additional workforce
housing so that people can live closer to where they work.
CITY MANAGER COMMENTS:
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MEMO
From:West Mountain Regional Housing Coalition
To:City of Aspen Mayor and Council
Re:Good Deeds Program Report and Update
Date:May 5, 2025
This memo provides an update and a request for funding of the West Mountain Regional
Housing Coalition’s Good Deeds Program.
BACKGROUND
The West Mountain Regional Housing Coalition (WMRHC or Coalition) formed in 2022 is a tax-
exempt non-profit with a mission to increase the availability and accessibility of affordable
community housing within the Roaring Fork and Middle Colorado River valleys: Aspen to
Parachute. We believe a regional approach that leverages the skills and resources of our
communities is the foundation for increasing affordable housing.
WMRHC is a member-based organization striving to support our members’ regional affordable
housing community interests and priorities. Our members, each of which have representation
on the WMRHC Board, currently include:
Pitkin County Eagle County
City of Aspen Town of Basalt
City of Glenwood Springs Town of Carbondale
Town of Snowmass Village Colorado Mountain Local College District
Roaring Fork Transportation Authority
The City of Aspen’s Board member representative is Liz Axberg, Aspen’s Housing Policy Analyst.
With $10,000 of initial investment from each of its eight members in 2022 and 2023, and
$20,000 from nine members in 2024 and 2025, the Coalition has held monthly meetings,
completed a Strategic Operations Plan, successfully secured over $150,000 in state grants, hired
an Executive Director, released several reports on the region’s housing situation, and hosted a
regional housing summit.
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In general, the goals of the Coalition are to:
increase the amount of housing available to local workforce through a development
neutral approach;
increase the number of households benefiting from housing assistance;
secure funding to provide housing programs; and to
establish a strong, durable organization that supports the region.
West Mountain Regional Housing: Good Deeds
In 2022, the Coalition reviewed a suite of housing program options recommended in the
Housing Toolkit developed by Bohannon and Huston, supported by DOLA’s Recovery Roadmap
program. The Coalition Board decided to focus its initial efforts on development-neutral
programs that support housing needs, strategies, or situations not currently addressed by other
housing programs in the region.
Problem Statement:
In a balanced housing market, households earning low to moderate income are typically renting
and households that earn above the median income begin to explore, and can achieve, home
ownership. The area median income (AMI) in Pitkin County is $91,000 for a 2-person
household. For that household to own a home and not be considered cost-burdened (i.e.
spending more than 30% of their income on housing), the home price would need to be
approximately $300,000. Based on a review of the most recent income, rental, and housing
market data, home ownership in the free market in our region is out of reach for even those
earning 300% of the median income. Therefore, moderate to high income households in the
region have incomes that are too low to participate in the private ownership market yet too
high to be eligible for most subsidized or assisted housing program requirements. And,
therefore, the housing market in our region is noticeably shifted from that of a balanced
housing market, forcing those higher-income earners to rent. This floods the rental market,
driving rental rates higher, and removing competition or options for movement within the
market.
WMRHC’s Response:
Acknowledging these two issues – the lack of a home ownership market for moderate to high
income earners, and an extremely crowded rental market – WMRHC launched a program to
bridge the gap between what is available on the open market and what is affordable to local
buyers by providing up-front funds towards the purchase of a deed restriction on a free market
home; thus converting existing free market homes to the affordable housing market in
perpetuity, creating a market for local workforce to own a home, and moving those that are
likely paying a very high rent into home ownership, freeing up space in the rental market.
Modeled after the successful Eagle County Good Deeds, this development-neutral approach
“buys down” a market rate home to a more affordable or attainable price for a local income
earner in exchange for a permanent deed restriction being added to the property.
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Program Details:
WMRHC took a regional and community-centered approach to eligibility (not an employer
approach) and therefore structured the requirements to allow anyone working full-time for an
employer principally or physically based in Pitkin, Eagle, or Garfield counties to be eligible.
There is no income cap. A qualified buyer must use the home as their primary residence, is not
allowed to short-term rent the home, must maintain local employment, and own no other
residential property. They are eligible for a 3% simple interest annual appreciation and capital
improvements of 10% every five years. WMRHC pays 30% of the purchase price of the home,
up to a $1.5 million home price (varies geographically), in exchange for a permanent price-
capped deed restriction on the property.
Pilot Program Success - 2024:
In the summer of 2024, the following communities contributed to the Good Deeds program:
Pitkin County - $1,000,000
City of Aspen -$450,000
Town of Snowmass Village - $250,000
City of Glenwood Springs -$200,000
Town of Carbondale -$100,000___
TOTAL = $2,000,000
The pilot program launched in mid-August. With $2,000,000 and within only five months,
WMRHC converted and preserved eight (8) homes from the free-market to price-capped,
permanently more affordable homes, securing long-term stable housing through home
ownership for twelve (12) working locals, whose employment ranges from Aspen to Glenwood
Springs.
Continued Success - 2025:
The following organizations have committed to the continued support and success of the Good
Deeds program in 2025:
Town of Snowmass Village - $ 250,000
City of Glenwood Springs -$ 100,000 annually for the next 3 years
Town of Carbondale -$ 100,000
Pitkin County (first reading) - $1,000,000
TOTAL to-date for 2025 =$1,450,000
With this continued support, the Good Deeds program has already closed on another home in
Glenwood Springs, bringing the total number of homes in the Good Deeds program to 9 and
the number of working locals now in secure homeownership to 13.
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There are currently more than a dozen qualified buyers eager for the opportunity to participate
and several new requests received each week for application to the program. WMRHC has
done little to advertise this program to date –most notification was achieved through one
article and spread through word of mouth.
The Coalition’s goal is to bring 30 homes into this program by 2026. The current construction
price for an affordable housing unit in Pitkin County is $800K -$1.2 million. If it was possible to
acquire land and permits and also complete design and construction of 30 units by 2026, it
would cost approximately $30 million (not including the associated infrastructure and utilities).
WMRHC estimates the conversion cost of 30 free-market homes to affordable deed restricted
homes in the region at $8-10 million, which does not require any additional land, utilities,
infrastructure, or construction materials.
Funding Request:
The pilot program was made possible through financial support from across the region, serving
as a proof of concept to attract additional funding from philanthropic partners and state
agencies. The City of Aspen’s contribution demonstrated that upvalley partners are invested in
regional collaboration and shared success. WMRHC and the participants of the Good Deeds
Pilot Program wish to extend our sincere gratitude for the support and success of this
incredible program. The Coalition is actively exploring other funding strategies including
philanthropic support, donations, grants, mitigation fees, etc. to continue offering and growing
this program in 2025.
The Coalition respectfully requests continued financial support and leadership from the City of
Aspen, without which the Coalition’s goal cannot be achieved.The opportunity is ripe. The
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Good Deeds program offers a unique opportunity to secure homes for our workforce before
those homes are sold to outside investors and before the price of those homes becomes
completely out of reach. Additionally, with new housing opportunities, we may be able to
retain and recruit valuable employees that have been at risk of relocation to more affordable
regions, leaving our businesses unable to fill positions and potentially causing long-term
economic harm to our community.
We urge you to invest in the future of the City of Aspen by continuing your support of the
Good Deeds program with $1 million in 2025. We also request the opportunity to explore
continued, annual support of the Coalition and its programs, during the preparation of the 2026
budget.
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