The Telluride Housing Authority (THA) is proposing changes to their affordable housing guidelines.
"One of the goals for the program is to have owner occupied housing," said assistant town attorney Allie Slaten.
The changes will give current homeowners opportunities to help others looking for a home, and will reinforce rules for renters to ensure THA is housing people who work in and help run the community.
Only people living in affordable housing units (AHUs) will be affected, and THA has three types of units that fall under the AHU category.
- Mitigation unit (MU)- units constructed by developers to mitigate the housing and employment impacts of new development.
- Town constructed units (TCU)- units constructed by the town through the affordable housing fund for resale to the public.
- Employee dwelling unit (EDU)- units constructed by homeowners for development incentives (waiver of water/tap fees, building permit fees).
The housing authority does not define units purchased or constructed and reserved by the town for its own employee housing, or rental units like Shandoka, Sunnyside, Virginia Placer, and Boardinghouse as AHUs.
Some of the major changes being proposed affecting homeowners and renters, are clarifications regarding the requirement of an in-person job in the community, and how much income can come from work outside of the community. While a remote job can be acceptable, 75% of the total household income has to come from a job for which presence is required in the town, and only 25% can come from the remote job. This is in addition to meeting a minimum hours requirement for work inside the community.
The next proposed change is adding Montrose, Ouray, and Dolores to San Miguel to the list of counties where people can't own an additional developed residential property unless granted an exception from the THA staff. Vacant land or developed non-residential properties are good to own, but may impact an asset limitation placed on owners of these AHUs.
But, what happens to someone's property?
"If someone is fortunate enough to also own a property somewhere else and they're willing to negotiate through the exception process in order to keep that home for their own financial planning...if they agree to rent it at what is considered an affordable rate in that region, to a person who is not in a position to own yet, it opens up the opportunity for someone to have attainable if not affordable housing," said Mayor DeLanie Young.
The intent with the proposed change is to not leave places empty.
Mayor Young said opening up space for people to rent will not only give them a home, but also a shorter commute time to work. The town had problems last week with people trying to get to their jobs because the mountain passes were closed.
Another major proposed change is matching the household size to the number of bedrooms. If there is an empty room in a house, a family might have to move and find another home with right number of rooms; if the owner is unwilling to rent out the extra space.
"You can request an administrative exception to have one less person and you explain the reason to the staff," Young said.
The intent with this change seems to be to move people out of their homes, but it's quite the opposite.
"To make it easier for people to live in these units (AHUs) while also meeting the other goal of having every bedroom be filled by a family member or a someone who works in the community," Slaten said.
If there is a three-bedroom home with a three person household and one moves away, the household can find a roommate to fill the empty room.
THA will be sensitive to people's situations, especially in ones where a family has been living in a home for many years and a room becomes available when their children move out.
"They've lived in a house for 20 plus years raising their family, and the last thing they want to do is have to give up their home, we'll work with people on that," Young said.
When proposing changes to housing guidelines, Young said she encourages others to think about the people in Telluride.
"Because these are real people, this is not just data, this is real people and their lives," she said.
One of the questions THA keeps asking is: who are we subsidizing housing for? Who are we trying to house?
The answer; the people living and working in the community.
The proposed changes have more committees to work through, and adoptions of the changes are likely to be made by early summer.
To view THA's presentation on the changes click here. To see the full comprehensive in-depth list of the changes click here.
This story is part of a recurring series from our Report for America Reporter Emily Capetillo about housing in Denver. Follow her on Twitter @emilycapetillo or send an email at emilycapetillo@iheartmedia.com. For more information on how to donate to Report for America, contact the KOA Newsroom at 303-713-8500.