There’s a question that often comes up when people talk about housing in the Roaring Fork Valley: Do we actually have a supply problem, or just a price problem?

We understand the instinct. Prices are the most visible part of the crisis. The median home price in Glenwood Springs topped $1 million in 2025. In Basalt, a community that once had a median of around $300,000, that number now sits above $2.2 million.

But price and supply are deeply connected. When supply is constrained, prices go up. Before COVID-19, the region already faced a shortfall of roughly 4,000 housing units, projected to grow to nearly 7,073 by 2030. In Glenwood Springs, from 2015 to 2022, the median home sale price increased from $388,000 to $750,000 — a 93% increase. In that same period, the affordability gap between what a family earning the median wage could afford and the actual median home price increased from $49,000 in 2015 to $293,000 in 2022.

The result of these increases is roughly 26,000 daily commuters, and the No. 1 reason they give is the price of housing. With little increase in affordable supply during this same period, our workforce faces a supply problem.

What are we doing about it?

Our two organizations attack the supply problem from different directions.

Habitat for Humanity RFV mostly builds new affordable homes. We are a housing developer, and right now we’re bringing 114 units of affordable homeownership to the valley across The Carter, with 88 units in Glenwood Meadows; The Confluence, with six units in downtown Glenwood Springs; and Wapiti Commons, with 20 units in Rifle.

New construction is essential because the valley’s housing stock needs to grow, but it’s expensive. Building a home in the Roaring Fork Valley can cost $400 to $800 per square foot, even if the land is donated. That means a 1,500-square-foot home can cost $600,000 to $1.2 million just to build. But a family earning the median income here can afford only a $400,000 home. Habitat RFV closes that gap through efficient building methods, buyer financing tools, and philanthropic and public investment.

WMRHC tackles the problem from another angle. The Good Deeds program converts existing free-market homes into permanently more affordable homes, paying 30% of the purchase price at closing in exchange for a deed restriction that requires all future owners to be working locals and that resales be capped at the more affordable price.

The cost comparison speaks for itself: Where building a new home runs well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, Good Deeds can preserve an existing one for an average of $235,000. In its first 18 months, the program preserved 25 homes with $6 million in investment. Every conversion permanently removes a home from the cycle of runaway appreciation and provides an opportunity for homeownership for working locals for years to come.

One of us builds new supply. The other preserves existing supply. There’s no single fix for a problem this big, and no one organization can solve this alone. The valley needs new homes built, and it needs to hold onto the affordable homes it already has. We are rowing the boat in the same direction. When Habitat RFV and WMRHC coordinate rather than working in silos, every dollar goes further, and more local families have a place to call home. That kind of partnership, across organizations and across the jurisdictions that fund this work, is exactly what a regional problem demands and deserves.

Who benefits?

The short answer is: pretty much everybody.

The families who move in feel it first. Their kids get to stay in the same school. They can start building savings instead of fearing the next rent increase. They can make plans for next year and the year after that in a place they already love because of the stability homeownership provides.

But the ripple effects go well beyond those families. Employers in this valley know that housing is one of their biggest workforce challenges. When someone can live close to where they work, they stick around longer. Employers can spend less time hiring and training and more time focusing on growth within their teams. Alpine Bank saw this clearly enough to purchase six units at The Carter for its employees. And nine teachers and school employees have secured homeownership through Good Deeds.

And then there are the impacts we all feel. Fewer people are driving an hour each way to get to work. There is less pressure on our roads and infrastructure. School enrollment is more stable. More money circulates locally when workers actually live in the communities they serve. More time, thought and energy are invested in the community when homeownership becomes a reality.

Together, we are stretching public and philanthropic dollars further, enabling our region to embrace the idea that homeownership can be a reality. Together, we are opening the door to opportunity and stability. Together, we will build a stronger community.

To learn more or get involved, visit habitatroaringfork.org or wmrhousing.org.

Jason Schraub is the chief external relations officer at Habitat for Humanity of the Roaring Fork Valley in Colorado. April Long is executive director of the West Mountain Regional Housing Coalition.