Dear Editor,

If one has the financial means to pay the rental asking price it’s known as “Market-rate.” The words we use can affect our thoughts and perceptions. “Affordable” and “subsidized” housing are both federal housing programs administered by the states to the counties and towns. Thus, if you’re paying below market-rate for housing, chances are your housing is being subsidized and called affordable (a more acceptable sounding word).

It could be subsidized by a government entity such as Boulder County Housing Authority, a non-profit such as Emergency Family Assistance Association, a private Foundation or a partnership. The point here is that regardless of what it’s called, be it affordable (aka workforce), or senior housing, or voucher – it’s all subsidized housing.

Affordable could also be a misnomer, especially if it’s tied to a county’s area median income (AMI). Tungsten Village is an example. Twenty of the units in Tungsten Village are designated “affordable.” Whereas nine units are designated as “subsidized.”

There is a critical need for “subsidized,” commonly known as “voucher,” housing in Nederland for local residents, especially seniors. When Tungsten Village was being built, we tried to get 12-14 units designated as voucher housing. Knowledgeable sources told me that the turnover at Tungsten Village is due in part to the limited number of subsidized units, and the unaffordability of “affordable” units as personal circumstances change.

Tungsten Village is tied to the county’s AMI. A few years ago, Summit County partnered with a Denver building company and a management company out of California to build 36 affordable - subsidized housing units. The rents were capped at 40% (included basic utilities) of gross income from all sources, not the county AMI.

The greatest need for housing is for those considered “housing burdened,” meaning they pay much more than 30% of their gross income towards their housing. And as a reminder, the housing crisis could also be a mental health crisis for some.

Market-rate housing will always continue to be built. It contributes to the ability to build subsidized housing, I’ve been told. The reality is that there will always be a need for some subsidized housing for the workforce and seniors.

In regard to a statement by one of the candidates in the forum, “we don’t have the money to make Nederland affordable again. All we can do is build more housing and hope that the price goes down.” Housing prices don’t go down. Sometimes they are “rent-controlled.” So you can stop hoping.

And, contributing to its lack of generational age and financial diversity, without subsidized (truly affordable) housing, Nederland will never be affordable again. Atashnaa Medicineshield Werner Nederland