Reports

The Lake County Housing Coalition has fundraised for and supported the following housing reports that guide the housing work in our community.

The Homelessness Subcommittee is made up of many representatives
from service providers in Lake County. This report has goals specifically for the subcommittee and also for each of the unique service providers who participated. This enabled us to collect the goals of
these organizations and compile them in one cohesive document so that we
can work more strategically going forward. See a full list below of participating service providers:

Advocates of Lake County
Cloud City Conservation Center
City of Leadville
Cornerstone Church
Full Circle
Lake County Government
Lake County Public Library
Lake County School District
Lake County Sherriff Department
Lake County Wraparound
Leadville Police Department
Leadville Ranger Station
Leadville Lake County Regional Housing Authority
Solvista Health
St. George’s Episcopal Church
St. Vincent Health

The goals are organized in three categories:

1. Prevention Strategies
2. Crisis Response Strategies
3. Long Term Homeless Solutions

Review the complete report for the full details.

The feedback gathered revealed the following:
There are an estimated 10 to 30 community members experiencing homelessness in Lake County on a single night. The lack of available, and affordable housing was the common thread in all feedback. This challenge seems to have increased significantly in the past three years, as the community has seen rapid increase in rents and reduced vacancy in the local rental inventory. Subject matter experts across Lake County frequently made comments such as “Housing is impossible”, “Housing is out of  control”, “Rent has gone through the roof.” Some of the consequences of the disparity between wages, benefits, and the availability of
affordable housing in Lake County are:

1. Families doubling up in manufactured housing units.
2. Families living in substandard housing without running water or electricity.
3. Multiple single individuals living in one-bedroom apartments.
4. People living in cars and camping out of necessity.

Oppurtunties fall under these categories: Homeless Prevention, Crisis Response, and Long Term Solutions.

• AMI Ranges- The coalition should pursue incentivizing homeownership projects for households making 120% AMI or less. The coalition should pursue incentivizing homeownership projects for households earning 80% AMI or less.
• Lake County should apply for 9% LIHTC funding to bring a Community Housing development to fruition.
• Recommended three funding mechanisms.
  • Excise sales tax on Short Term Rentals.
    This was passed by Leadville city voters in 2021.
  • Allocation of sales tax collected on building materials. The county and city collect sales tax on building materials delivered to Lake County. If we can find out the amount being collected, we will ask for a general fund allocation.
    A decision could be made by the Board of County Commissioners & City Council.
  • Activation of part of the unused mil’s.
    This funding mechanism is no longer relevant since the County Commissioners activated the mil’s for the construction of the Justice Center.
• The coalition should facilitate community-wide discussions on implementing deed restrictions to preserve the affordability of housing units into the future.
• Develop a Multi-Jurisdictional Housing Authority.

In Spring 2019, a group of urban planning masters’ students at the University of Colorado, Denver studied affordable housing in Leadville Lake County and made recommendations regarding affordable housing, which resulted in the following three reports.

This report made recommendations regarding the optimal location to construct affordable community housing. They assessed three sites, the Westpark, Climax, and School District sites, and found the Climax site to be the most suitable for a community housing Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) development

Nothing in a community works in isolation; each piece of the puzzle needs to be healthy and functioning to support not only residents but also the other elements in the community. The policy recommendations in this report bring together concepts from various plans already drafted for Leadville and Lake County. The policy recommendations are about Housing, Economy, Transportation, and Energy.

The development of infill housing relates to the building on small under or undeveloped parcels dispersed throughout the community. This report provides an affordable infill housing plan for Leadville’s vacant parcels.

This report presents data obtained from a housing research initiative conducted by the Lead Housing Facilitator at Lake County Build a Generation. Interviews were conducted with both local housing experts and community residents who could benefit from the future implementation of the Housing Coalition Action Plan. The report resulted in the following recommendations.

When a community has inadequate housing, not only are community members’ health impacted, but economic development is also hindered as it is difficult for employers to recruit and retain employees.

Five key issues were identified (review the complete document for details):

1. Inadequate housing supply
2. Challenges facing new housing development
3. Location and regional context of Lake County
4. Continuing pressure on pricing
5. Links to employment and economic development