Affordable Housing Initiative
The Issue
Yampa Valley communities face a severe shortage of affordable housing, a crisis exacerbated by an influx of remote workers and retirees along with rising construction costs. In Routt County, demand for vacation and part-time homes has driven prices beyond the reach of local wage earners. Couples earning the average wage can afford homes priced at less than half of the median market price. More than half of renters spend 30% or more of their income on rent, signaling widespread affordability issues. Moffat County has seen minimal new housing development in the past decade, with increased demand from out-of-state buyers resulting in low inventory and rising prices.
These factors have led to dramatically increased housing prices in Routt and Moffat Counties, resulting in the region’s workforce – including nonprofit employees, teachers, first responders and other essential workers – facing housing distress, instability, and long commutes due to unaffordable markets. The consequences are far-reaching, for the economy, education, health, and availability of basic services.
Our Work
The Foundation’s involvement in addressing the challenge of affordable housing has become a meaningful part of our work. After facilitating a $26 million grant for the Yampa Valley Housing Authority (YVHA) in 2021 leading to the purchase of property for the development of an affordable housing community, our continued commitment has been demonstrated by our leadership’s participation on key committees and Board advocacy for annexation of the YVHA property. In partnership with donors, we launched the Yampa Valley Housing Accelerator Fund, a designated fund to provide capital for financing the construction of new affordable housing projects and maintaining the affordability of mobile home communities, administered through our Impact Investment Program. The first of these project partnerships, the 8th Street Development in Craig, received national recognition, and successful loans have enabled further investments in projects like Prairie Run Apartments in the Town of Hayden and the Milner Mobile Home Park Co-op.
In addition, beyond what is typically thought of as affordable housing, an extraordinary coalition-building and fundraising effort by the Foundation in 2024 saved Casey’s Pond Senior Living Community from closure, preserving irreplaceable continuous care housing for elderly members of the community.
Going forward, the Foundation continues to assess low-cost loan opportunities to protect current housing stock and support development of new units and is expanding efforts to explore additional creative solutions to affordable housing, our community’s most critical pressing issue. We have re-energized a regular meeting of the area’s largest employers through the creation of the Regional Housing Partnership, a forum at which information is exchanged and new ideas explored that will help address this crisis. Using our convening power, strategic partnerships, targeted funding, and advocacy, the Yampa Valley Community Foundation is making significant strides toward alleviating the affordable housing crisis and strengthening the fabric of the local community.
How To Get Involved
Are you passionate about supporting affordable housing in the Yampa Valley? Contributions to the Yampa Valley Housing Accelerator Fund, our revolving loan fund which provides capital for the creation and development of affordable housing projects, are welcome. If you would like to learn more, contact Tim Wohlgenant, YVCF CEO, at tim@yvcf.org.