The City of Cortez, like many Colorado communities, faces a housing crisis – too few homes are available for rent or purchase to meet the demands of a growing population and workforce. But the city hopes to make a small dent in the problem with construction of a new workforce and affordable housing development on the old high school site on Seventh Street. By Deborah Uroda. This story is sponsored by Keesee Motors and Choice Building Supply.
City of Cortez - https://www.cortezco.gov/
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Solving the affordable housing crisis is a bit like the chicken or the egg question. Should the City of Cortez support workforce housing construction to attract and keep workers? Or do workers create enough demand to create more housing? Turns out it's both.
You're watching the local news network brought to you by Casey Motors and Choice Building Supply. I'm Connor Shreve.
The city of Cortez acknowledged in a 2022 housing assessment study that it has an affordable housing problem, and now it's doing something about it. Earlier this spring, the city issued a request for proposals from developers to build a mixed use housing complex on the old high school site on seventh Street.
The city purchased the 14 acre site from the Montezuma Cortez School District with the help of a gold Colorado grant for about $170,000 in 2018. Half the site will become a park, the other will become a park village, a development the city council hopes will provide much needed workforce housing. It's the first city sponsored housing project since the city adopted affordable housing as one of its top priorities in 2022.
They recognize that that housing has a big impact on the viability of the town as far as economic, development, as far as quality of life. And so, so the city, council prioritized it in 2022.
The Housing Study estimated a modest employment growth rate of under 1% per year, but even so, the area can expect to add more than 620 jobs by 2028 to house those new employees, including teachers, law enforcement officers, medical personnel and others. Developers would need to add between 57 and 107 new houses every year. Last year, the city building department issued only 22 permits. The shortage raises housing prices and rents. Before Covid, a two bedroom apartment rented for about $800 a month. Today, that rent is closer to $1,200 a month, with a citywide vacancy rate of under 1.5%, and the cost to buy the median home price has jumped nearly 44% during the past five years.
And a lot of people in our community are unfortunately housing burden right now. And a lot of people, unfortunately, are in really substandard housing situations where they're living in hotels. There are multiple people per, per room
Bloomquist notes affordable housing not only is a social issue, it's an economic issue that can affect a community's financial health.
So our, our local employers are already, struggling to find a place. And when they do find employees that don't already have housing, they're often losing, losing those employees. Gets to be a bit of a cycle where, if employees can't find affordable and stable and reliable housing, then they end up leaving the community. And then the community needs to find more workers.
Bloomquist says the city hopes to review developer proposals in June. Start date for construction is still to be determined. To read the housing report and follow the Park Village Development, visit the City of Cortez website at Cortez. Kogi gov.
Find more information about this and other stories at Montezuma Local News. Thank you for watching this edition of the local news network. I'm Connor Shreve.
