Dear Editor,

A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from a reader regarding my letter entitled “Affordable Housing and Annexation.” They had a few questions and I’d like to share my response:

People generally don’t think about aging in place until they are much older, and physical changes start to occur. More often than not, Boulder County Housing Authority (BCHA), while accepting feedback in the planning and design stages of subsidized housing (as was the case with Tungsten Village, due to my insistence), along with submitting architectural interior drawings, usually does not engage with the public.

The Tungsten Village property was to be for subsidized senior housing. However, the decision was made (another story), against my objections, for it to be affordable workforce housing. A third of the 26 units are subsidized (Section 8) units. BCHA, citing privacy regulations, would not give a breakdown of the number of units occupied by seniors (or locals). The occupancy of Tungsten Village fluctuates. For transparency, my affordable housing passion and advocacy is focused on senior housing.

Prime Haven, the first (senior) housing 6 units), along with Beaver Creek Apartments (12 units) and Rodeo Court (6 2–3 bedroom units), was built in Colorado through a USDA-HUD grant in the early 1980s. The lot for Prime Haven senior housing was given by the Prime sisters of Nederland, a long-ago family. It is owned by BCHA.

Senior housing has a federally mandated rent cap of no more than 30% of gross income. Modernizing, renovating, and expansion of Prime Haven to meet the (changing) physical needs of seniors is not possible because of the lot size. The basic qualification for subsidized senior housing is 60+ years of age. So, a senior whose gross income may be $900/month Social Security, and a senior whose gross income is $2300/month pay the same 30% of income. Typically, all over Boulder County subsidized senior housing has a five- to seven-year waiting list.

The Bowen survey performed in 2013, via the partnership I facilitated between the town and BCHA, recommended senior housing as one of its priorities due to the aging Boomer population for those who want to age in place. With the combined experiential and professional working knowledge of me and the mountain resource options counselors from Emergency Family Assistance Association (EFAA) and Area Agency on Aging (AAA), we determined that the need in our area for subsidized senior housing was approximately 16 1-bedroom units.

As I previously mentioned, Prime Haven has 6 little units. Some have suggested that an updated survey should be conducted since the Bowen survey was conducted a decade ago. Money spent on another survey wouldn’t change the outcome. I believe all are in agreement the need has become even greater and would only delay development longer. On average it takes 5-7 years from land acquisition to move-in going through BCHA. However, there are a couple of other options.

Some seniors up here with good financial resources have the option to downsize to smaller housing units, although there isn’t much availability. Or, they choose to buy or rent a 1-bedroom unit in Boulder. There are many other seniors that have lived up here for decades, coming up here in their 20s and 30s; are now solo; don’t have family or children; are in their 60s, 70s, and 80s; whose only regular income is Social Security; and they struggle to work as long as they can to pay skyrocketing rents. They don’t have options for another place to move to, if they wanted to.

As to how many seniors might be interested in moving into a new development outside of town – that is not quantifiable. It depends on what I previously mentioned about changing circumstances and financial resources.

Atashnaa Medicineshield Werner

Nederland