The Glenwood Springs Housing Coalition presented some updates to City Council on Thursday, April 20 about the new advisory board that will advise strategies for the 2C workforce housing fund. 

The housing coalition met with the Glenwood Springs Housing Commission and city staff in March to make some initial decisions on the advisory board that will direct Council on administering the lodging tax/workforce housing fund that was approved by city voters last fall. 

The Workforce Housing Fund Advisory Board is the current name for the board that will make recommendations on how to administer the lodging tax fund. 

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One decision was to clarify the language of having the board serve in an advisory role only. 

Councillor Shelley Kaup was concerned that the initial language made it sound like the board would be doing the work. 

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“It would be a housing staff that would actually take the programs and projects and move those projects forward, specifically working with developers, partners or whatever it be,” Kaup said. 

The Housing Commission and the Housing Coalition also agreed to keep the Advisory Board and the Housing Commission separate, so the Advisory Board can focus specifically on strategies for workforce housing the lodging tax fund, while the housing commission works on more broad housing concerns like restrictive codes.

“Both will hopefully increase our eligibility for (Proposition) 123 funds,” Councilor Sumner Schachter said of the statewide housing measure that also passed in the Nov. 8, 2022 election. 

Schachter, who is also a member of the Housing Commission and who helped with the housing coalition that created the 2C ballot language, said that the Advisory Board is created to be specifically diverse, unlike any requirements for the Housing Commission. 

“If we didn’t have a separate committee, we would lose some of that diversity and inclusion,” he said.

The specific language for the Advisory Board that was agreed upon by both groups is to have “diverse backgrounds with professional and lived experiences,” Ellen Dole, member of the Housing Commission, said. 

Watkins Fulk-Gray, a senior planner for the city, has acted as a city staff liaison between the two groups to make final decisions about the Advisory Board, like who will be on the board, what their duties will be, the size of the board, what the funds will be used for and so on, he said. 

A housing manager is still an option for administering funding, but City Council will need to decide where the city would get the funding to pay for that position. 

Council will wait for recommendations from the two groups as they move forward.

Post Independent reporter Cassandra Ballard can be reached at cballard@postindependent.com or 970-384-9131.