If one thing is clear about the housing crisis that’s been the center of attention at recent economic development meetings, it is that the communities of La Plata County don’t want to lose their workforce.
Nurses, teachers, firefighters, waitstaff and police officers have all been mentioned at recent Economic Alliance and Durango Chamber of Commerce meetings as being invaluable facets of Durango and outlying towns.
But Rachel Taylor-Saghie, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of La Plata County, is worried that discussions around “workforce housing” might be focused on a socioeconomic spectrum that is above the pay grade of most teachers, nurses and waitstaff.
Taylor-Saghie is a firm advocate of the housing “continuum,” she said. She believes no matter where people might live – low-income housing, rental units or the like – they should be able to advance toward and reach affordable homeownership.
She is concerned people aren’t advancing through the continuum and worried that low-income members of the workforce are being left out of discussions about the workforce, even if it might not appear that way.
At the Economic Alliance Housing 101 virtual meeting Jan. 12, members recruited by the alliance talked about the need to define what “affordable” or “attainable” housing means in the context of La Plata County residents.
Housing is typically considered “affordable” if rent or mortgage, plus utilities, costs no more than 30% of someone’s annual income.
The subject of area median income, or AMI, is also used as a standard to gauge below-market housing. In a presentation during the alliance’s Housing 101 meeting, data showed first-time homeownership is occurring among Coloradans who earn between half the median income and equal the median income. In La Plata County, that would include people earning between $43,850 and $87,700.
Customer service representatives, entry-level electricians and entry-level middle school teachers earn about 67% to 72% of the area median income. Police officers, firefighters and registered nurses earn about 90% to 96% of the area median income.
But Taylor-Saghie doesn’t believe those data points line up with what many teachers, firefighters and other members of the workforce really earn in La Plata County. She thinks many earn less.
She said it is time to define what “workforce” housing means and who it applies to.
And looking carefully at where to invest money to create housing solutions that will help retain residents is needed to allow communities to thrive. Strategic investments help to address things such as health, diversity issues, crime and overcrowding, she said.
“If you have a community that is building for the workforce, and it is only predominantly subsidized developments where your option is either to squeeze your family into a two-bedroom unit or move out of the community, then you do lose a certain amount of your community,” she said.
At the recent Durango Chamber of Commerce Eggs & Issues meeting, Mayor Kim Baxter said since 1999, the city has spent $140 million to actively and intentionally promote recreational amenities in order to make Durango an attractive place to live.
But, Baxter said, over the last 22 years, the city has failed to spend money with the same action and intent to make Durango an affordable place “for our workforce and middle-income residents to live.”
She said just $3 million, or 2% of the spending that went to recreation, has been committed to workforce housing over that time.
The city needs at least 1,500 units to meet existing needs.
“We need to balance our commitment between supporting the quality and the attractiveness that we love and the affordability so that our residents can remain here, so that we keep enhancing that quality of life that we all love and that we want to continue,” Baxter said.
A “significant portion” of Durango and La Plata County residents don’t believe the workforce housing shortage is critical, she said. Partly because the shortage raises their property values.
“We don’t have 100% agreement from our community for the need for attainable housing for our workforce and our middle-income residents,” she said. “Without that kind of commitment, we’re not going to be able to make this change.”
cburney@durangoherald.com
An earlier version of this story used an incorrect word in Mayor Kim Baxter’s final quote. The quote should have read: “Without that kind of commitment, we’re not going to be able to make this change.”
