Local public assistance organizations are collaborating on how to improve affordable housing opportunities in the area.
The Montezuma County Enhanced Support Housing Project plans to establish additional subsidized rental units to serve individuals and families who are homeless or at imminent risk of becoming homeless.
There are 27 homeless families in Montezuma County, and hundreds more low-income families need affordable housing, according to Terri Wheeler, director of the Montezuma County Housing Authority.
The organization oversees 501 subsidized housing units, and they are all full.
“We have a wait list of 235 families and individuals, but there are not enough units,” Wheeler told the county commission recently.
MCHA, along with the Piñon Project and the Bridge Emergency Shelter, are working together to find a solution.
There is especially a need for one-bedroom units and efficiency apartments, of which there are only eight in the county, and they are usually full.
“Right now we have 15 people staying at the shelter who are working but can’t afford $800 per month for an apartment,” said Lori Knutson, shelter director.
One idea is to take advantage of government buildings vacated once a new centralized courthouse is built, a plan that is in its preliminary phases.
The project would free up the current county courthouse at Mildred and Empire, a which is also the location of the Bridge Emergency Shelter.
“If it is vacated, we would be interested in securing it for subsidized, low-income housing,” Wheeler said.
The group is interested in seeing if the building could be retrofitted for a walk-up affordable apartment building.
The idea is to add a second floor and build up to 15 one-bedroom and efficiency units, but structural studies would need to be done to see if it’s possible. Downstairs would be a common area with family support services. The social services agencies are also looking at vacant land to build more affordable housing units, or use existing rental properties. The goal is to have a project completed by the end of 2015.
Colorado housing authorities are moving toward an enhanced support housing model.
“The focus is to surround our most vulnerable residents with the wrap-around services they need,” said Kellie Willis, Pinon Project Director. “Affordable housing is the most stabilizing factor.”
More convenient and centralized access for residents to mental health and addiction services, food assistance programs, job services and health care to residents is a goal of the program.
Montezuma County struggles with low wages and poverty issues, officials said. Of 25,407 residents, 20 percent are at or below the poverty level rate of $22,048 income per year. Of particular concern is the fact that 31 percent of children live in poverty.
Commissioners said they’re deciding what to do with the county court building once a new combined court campus is built.
jmimiaga@cortezjournal.com