The Garfield County Housing Authority (GCHA) reported an increase in affordable housing sales in 2023 and discussed plans to increase the number of affordable housing units around the county with the Garfield Board of County Commissioners.

The housing authority aims to assist low-income families with safe, habitable housing opportunities. In 2023, the organization helped house around 538 families (895 people) with the Housing Choice Voucher, Mainstream and Emergency Housing Voucher Programs in Garfield County, according to the 2023 year-end report, presented to the BOCC by housing authority Executive Director Cheryl Strouse on Oct. 7.

The organization also administers the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, which helps approved program participants pay rent in units of their own choosing. 

In 2023, GCHA paid almost $5 million to local landlords through HUD on behalf of “eligible very low-income families.” The housing authority offered 120% of the HUD Fair Market Rent to further help voucher holders find better opportunities for safe, affordable housing.

“When the agency can pay rents that fall within the 100% of HUD posted Fair Market Rents, which is of course what revenues and expenses are based on annually, then the expenses and revenues will more closely balance,” Strouse wrote in an email to the Post Independent on Friday.

The GCHA’s annual HUD budget is based on the prior year’s revenues and expenses. Last year, HUD expenses were almost $210,000 higher than revenues, according to the year-end report. 

“As far as the HUD program, right now it’s kind of bleak,” Strouse told the BOCC, adding the housing authority has 454 HUD voucher units to use for low-income housing, and 408 of those units are currently leased.

“The market is so tight, there just is no low income affordable housing available right now; hasn’t been for a couple of years,” Strouse said. “On the bright side, we are currently working with three different developments in Garfield County that will be requesting, or have requested, and have been approved for project-based vouchers, which are vouchers that would lease up almost all of those 454 units.”

The housing authority also works with developers and other groups interested in increasing low income housing options. 

From 2023 to 2024, 33 affordable housing units were added in Carbondale, predominantly at Hayden Place and Carbondale Marketplace Lofts. 

“That has helped immensely with affordable housing,” Strouse told the BOCC. “We also have sold a lot more affordable housing, have a lot more affordable housing sales this year than we have had in the past few years, which as tight as the market is, that’s kind of surprising, but we’ve been selling them. So that’s really, really good.”

The housing authority is working with the county to add “some affordable housing units for the county,” Strouse said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve done any of that. So that’s a positive as well.”

The Benedict, a senior housing development in Glenwood Springs, and Rifle Apartments, a multifamily property in Rifle, should be done by late summer 2025, according to Strouse. Both projects are designed to assist community members with Area Median Incomes of 80% or less and provide affordable housing for seniors, teachers, firefighters, police and workforce families, according to Strouse. 

Strouse estimates that another multifamily housing project, Aster Place in Parachute, will be completed by early 2026. 

Each property has requested HUD vouchers that will help house families whose income is 40% or less of the Area Median Income. 

GCHA is also working with Western Slope Veterans Coalition to purchase land and tiny homes for veteran affordable housing. 

“The Housing Authority is committed to supporting the county and the people of Garfield County in the development, procurement, and retention of safe and affordable housing,” Strouse said. “It is a part of our mission, alongside the administration of the Housing Choice Voucher Program of the U.S. Department of  Housing and Urban Development.”