Have you struggled to find housing within your budget in Durango? Rentals, a home for you and your children, retirement facilities for your parents? Have you heard your friends or your employees talk about how hard it is to find a place to live? For most of us here in the city, the answer is yes. The difficulties of finding affordable housing in Durango are well-known. Thankfully, from 3 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, our Durango city councilors will be studying some policy options to mitigate our housing struggles within the city limits. Everyone interested in sustaining our workforce, finding stable and affordable housing and maintaining our economic diversity in Durango should attend to learn more about what’s on the table and support our councilors in this task.
Over the past year, a variety of stakeholders and community members have been meeting to talk through some of these policy options with our city planners. As a member of this group – the Housing Policy Advisory Committee for the city of Durango – I’m convinced there’s a number of policy options that could help us develop a housing system that works for all of us. In addition, I’ve learned that housing in Durango is a real challenge, not just an anecdotal one.
For instance, while median rent in Durango is comparable to that in Aspen and Summit County, our rent here is increasing faster than it is in those places, while our median income has stayed substantially lower. Moreover, both the city of Aspen and Summit County, along with Fort Collins, Eagle County, Steamboat and Telluride, among others, have affordable-housing programs already in place, while we do not. Durango is growing fast. If we want to maintain a sustainable and resilient economy and workforce, we need to be proactive about our housing policies.
Thank you to Durango City Council for taking the time to consider a variety of policy options to benefit our community and our wallets. I hope to see you at the study session from 3 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall.
Micha Rosenoer
Durango
