Atashnaa Werner, Nederland. Public housing, through the Housing and Urban Development Program (HUD), under the Department of Agriculture, is today known as subsidized housing and has three different programs under its umbrella.  What does “subsidized housing” mean? It means that HUD pays a portion of a qualified person’s housing costs. 

The 3 HUD subsidized programs are:

1.  The CHOICE program, formally known as Section 8, a voucher for privately owned housing that a landlord has entered into an agreement with the county to accept.

2.  Affordable housing, also known as workforce housing, rents units below the area median income (AMI).  Residents qualify based on gross income percentages of the AMI. For example, one person may qualify if their income is no less than X percent of the AMI.

3. Housing for seniors and adults with disabilities.  Residents who are on a (fixed) low-income according to the AMI, pay a flat 30 percent of their gross income. 

The national standard for housing affordability is 30 percent of one’s gross income. More than that is considered housing burdened. 

2019 Boulder County Area Median Income (AMI) is $84,918.

Moderate 60 percent / $25 per hour

Low 50 percent / $21.05 per hour

Very low   40 percent / $17.69 per hour

Extremely low 30 percent / $12.73 per hour ($12 per hour will be Colorado minimum wage as of January, 2020)

“Housing affordability and accessibility is a major concern, particularly as it affects the Nederland area’s low-income seniors.” – excerpted 2000 P2P Healthy Communities Summit.

The first Subsidized housing built in Boulder County was built in Nederland through a USDA - HUD grant:

-  Six Rodeo Court affordable family housing townhouses in 1983 (4 2-bedrooms / 2 3-bedrooms).

-  Twelve one-bedroom affordable and voucher subsidized Beaver Creek Apartments in 1984.

-  Six one-bedroom (fixed 30 percent) Prime Haven apartments for seniors and adults with disabilities in 1988.

Less than one percent of the county’s population resides in mountain communities. Between 2010 and 2018, availability of affordable quality housing among older county residents has decreased from 27 percent to nine percent. In the last seven years, home values in the mountain communities has increased between 60-78 percent. 

In 2013, Atashnaa Medicine Shield, as founder of the Nederland Housing Movement, brokered a partnership between the Town of Nederland and Boulder County Housing to build subsidized housing in Nederland. The first step was the commission of a housing needs survey.  The survey conducted by the Bowen National Research Group in 2014 provided recommendations to address housing needs and establish priorities.

Among their conclusions were:

1. A rapidly increasing base of seniors will be requiring housing to meet their specific needs. 

2. Few available housing options for current and potential residents will force people into housing they don’t want or can’t afford. 

3. Lack of housing contributes to the loss of young families and a decline in local school enrollment.  

The priorities outlined were:

 1. Senior housing to meet the growing base of senior households particularly that of low-income seniors. 

2. Housing to accommodate the move toward smaller household sizes of one or two people.

3. For sale family housing priced below $300,000 to retain and attract households particularly with incomes between $30,000 and $60,000. 

In 2014, the Nederland Housing Task force joined with the P2P Human Services committee. Then, around 2016 Atashnaa stepped back and the Nederland Housing subcommittee was formed under the P2P Human Services Committee. It was dormant for a while until this past Friday, September 13, 2019, when Atashnaa Medicine Shield, Nederland Housing Movement founder and Kristi Vendetti, mountain resources counselor for Emergency Family Assistance Association (EFAA) joined forces to resuscitate it.  Joining with them are, Nicole Cavalino,  director of Nederland Area Seniors; Colleen Sinclair, mountain resources counselor with Boulder County Area Agency on Aging; Darlene Bushue, Boulder County Human Services; Ari Goodman, mountain resources counselor with the Center for People with Disabilities; Claudia Schauffler, NICHE resources counselor, former Clinica co-director, local business owner; Pastor Hansen Wendlandt of Nederland Community Presbyterian Church. 

At this first meeting, everyone introduced themselves. Atashnaa handed out a sheet to familiarize everyone with the history of subsidized housing in Nederland and Kristi Vendetti assumed the role of chairperson. Discussion followed and short-term goals were decided as action items to move forward with.

(Originally published in the September 26, 2019, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)