Eagle County to see big investment in affordable housing from American Rescue Plan funds

The office of state Rep. Meghan Lukens recently issued the following press release on more than $10 million in additional state funding for affordable housing projects in her district, including Eagle County:

Governor Jared Polis and the Department of Local Affairs recently announced the third round of Transformational Affordable Housing Grant recipients, including a $10,750,000 investment in House District 26 that is expected to create 333 new units in rural Colorado.

“This investment of over $10.5 million is expected to create hundreds of affordable homes that will reduce the cost of housing, save people money and make it easier for Coloradans in rural parts of our state to stay in the communities we love,” said Rep. Meghan Lukens, D-Steamboat Springs. “This round of funding will provide Routt, Eagle and Moffat counties with significant new resources to help our rural and mountain towns drive down the cost of living and boost our workforce with more affordable places to live.” 

In the 2022 legislative session, Colorado Democrats passed HB22-1304 and HB22-1377 to allocate over $280 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to develop more affordable housing units and to provide housing support and other essential services to unhoused people. One of the grant programs created from these laws, the Transformational Affordable Housing Grant program, aims to aid eligible applicants with the development, creation, and preservation of affordable housing opportunities throughout Colorado. The legislation requires half of the grant money to be made available to rural communities to give them a fair shot at accessing grant dollars so they can address rural housing shortages. 

In the recently announced third round of grant recipients, Moffat, Routt, and Eagle county recipients collectively received over $10 million in grant money. The grant program awarded: 
·        The Yampa Valley Housing Authority and Lone Tree Trust, LLC with $4 million to add 234 more workforce housing units in Steamboat Springs by developing for-sale condominiums and rental apartments, 
·        Colorado Mountain College with $2 million to build 36 units in Eagle County for residents who are at or below 100% of the Area Median Income (AMI), 
·        The Eagle County Housing and Development Authority with $2 million to purchase 43 newly-constructed condominium units, and 
·        The Craig Housing Authority with $2.75 million to develop 20 new modular homes. 

In May 2023, the department awarded over $31 million in its second round of grants, including a $8.6 million investment to the Town of Hayden. This investment will fund a workforce housing project in Hayden that will create 129 new housing units in the Prairie Run Workforce Apartments. These rental units will offer housing between 80% and 160% AMI and will be all-electric with high efficiency electrical heating.