Questions & Answers
Affordable housing references the federal target that no more than 30% of your gross income is required to pay for housing. A $1 million dollar house can be “affordable” to someone making enough money. If your household income is $80,000, then the affordable housing expense target for your household is $2,000 per month. The 30% is supposed to be inclusive of HOA dues, utilities, and other items that are specific to monthly housing expenses. In a rural resort community, spending less than 30% of your gross income on housing is challenging.
Attainable housing is focused on the gap between local income and local housing prices. If you get a promotion, then the gap decreases and you could rent or own a house. Buy downs, assistance programs, and subsidies address the gap from the price side in order to make the housing more attainable at local wages.
Workforce housing is focused on employer needs for employees. It tries to match wages to rents, seeks proximity to the employers or public transit access, and requires local employment to access. Several employers have sought to create housing for their employees through master leases and property purchases.
Community housing tends to see housing as foundational to building a close community. This tends to mix the types of housing and price points so residents can stay in the community as their housing and family needs change. Community housing can be found in in-fill projects or full developments that do not segregate housing products. Also, there are fewer areas where all the homes are dark during the week.
What is AMI and why should I care about it?
Area Median Income is a number the Federal and State agencies produce each year (around April). AMI is provided for each County. If there is a municipality with more than 5,000 residents, then a local AMI is published for that specific municipality. To get AMI, you list all the annual incomes of residents in Grand County and then sort them from smallest to largest. The middle value is the 100% AMI. This is different from the average income, which can be skewed by a few really high or low earners. In 2023, the 100% AMI for an individual was $65,400. The State also publishes income charts for households with multiple residents.
AMI is used in setting rent and income limits for State and Federal programs. It can also be used locally to set income limits for deed restricted properties to establish long term affordability.
CHFA 2024 Grand County Rent and Income Limits for State Programs (effective May 15, 2024)
What AMI limits does the Fraser River Valley Housing Partnership use?
The Housing Partnership is not limited to a specific set of incomes but rather is empowered to address the lack of affordable housing across a diverse spectrum of housing types and prices. In general, the Housing Partnership is focused on the 60%-180% AMI range because this is where the most demand exists.
Instead of focusing only on AMI, the Housing Partnership will focus on year-round housing and a variety of housing to meet individual and family needs. Rental properties will have long-term leases and ownership properties will require a minimum length of local, on-site employment to qualify. Winter Park Resort and other seasonal employers are providing their own seasonal housing solutions.
How will the housing partnership determine eligibility for housing?
The Housing Partnership will follow best practices from other rural-resort community housing authorities, including annual qualification verification. Annually, during lease renewals or deed-restriction verification, local employment documentation and income verification will be required
Due to the number of households qualifying as housing burdened (spending over 30% of their income on housing) the Housing Partnership anticipates that it would need to utilize a housing lottery process to follow fair housing laws. Best practices across rural-resort communities often require a certain number of years of local work history to qualify for owner-occupied for-sale housing along with income restrictions and weighting housing lotteries for the length of local employment.
What is a deed restriction?
A deed restriction is a legal document that is recorded with the property record and requires the property to be used in a specific way, in this case, the rules would dictate requirements around local residence and employment.
What is driving this housing crisis in Grand County?
A combination of factors that includes rapidly rising housing prices, workforce wages not keeping up with rising costs, and short-term rentals and second-homeowners reducing the availability of year-round housing all contribute to the crisis. For example, there is approximately a $180,000 gap in what market-rate homes cost to build and what the local workforce can afford. In addition, only 36% of market rate homes are occupied by permanent residents.
How much housing is needed in the Fraser River Valley?
The housing needs assessment has found a gap of 645-730 units by 2027.
What is being done now to help with housing stress?
The Town of Winter Park has been focused on affordable housing and leads the valley with rental and home ownership projects. In 2023, the Fireside Creek apartments were completed and 40 units were leased up by October.
The Mill Apartments in Grand County also began leasing up affordable units in 2023. This project received competitive Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) and has specific AMI commitments for specific unit types.
Winter Park Resort completed a major employee housing project that added 330 bed capacity in dorm style units. This will allow the influx of seasonal employees to stay on-site at the Resort instead of increasing competition for rental housing in town.
The Town of Winter Park, Winter Park Resort, and the Grand Foundation have funded and implemented rental assistance program for the region. The Grand County Housing Authority and Grand Foundation also administer a rental assistance program across the county.
Grand County has a down payment assistance program that it will continue to operate – and it’s not limited to first-time homebuyers or low-income households. You can find information on the county’s website.
Habitat for Humanity of Grand County has completed two houses in Hot Sulphur Springs and recently received Proposition 123 funds to purchase land in order to start a project in Granby in 2025.
The Resources Page of our site features links to several of these programs and projects.
What is in on the horizon for affordable housing?
2024 will not have many projects going vertical or completed. The main exception is Winter Park’s Hideaway Junction Phase II with 10 houses for ownership completed. Two major projects, Victoria Village in Fraser and Community Housing in Granby will be focused on installing infrastructure so these projects can go vertical in 2025. These two projects could add more than 400 units by 2027.
What are the boundaries of the Housing Partnership?
The boundaries are depicted in the map below and include both the boundaries of the Fraser Metro Recreation District as well as the Granby Municipal boundaries.
What is the difference in affordable, attainable, workforce, and community housing?
There are technical differences in the terms around housing, but they generally refer to housing with lower rent and ownership prices so full-time residents who work in the community can also live in the community.
