Chaffee Housing Authority outlines 2025 priorities: housing needs assessment, acquisitions and mobile‑home preservation

Marjo Kyrgass, interim executive director of the Chaffee Housing Authority, briefed the Town of Buena Vista Board of Trustees on Jan. 14 about the authority's 2025 priorities, current projects and financing constraints facing mountain communities.

"We do have a grant from Dolan to do that," Kyrgass said of the planned housing needs assessment. She described the assessment as necessary to comply with new state methodology and to preserve eligibility for major state funding pools.

Kyrgass reviewed several active projects. James Place, a signature CHA project that includes 17 housing units and some commercial space, is back in construction and expected to finish late 2025 or early 2026; construction for that project was described as roughly $5.5 million. The authority also completed acquisition of its first rental property — a 19‑unit building in Salida — purchased for roughly $4 million, which Kyrgass said will be managed to preserve below‑market rents. She described an Alpine West land‑banking grant that would give CHA up to 10 years to secure planning and financing for development on the site.

Kyrgass emphasized financing limits that constrain what can be built and at what rent levels. She said state funding programs put a per‑unit cap on subsidy — "it caps it per unit at $70,000" — that often leaves a gap between subsidized dollars and the actual cost to build in a high‑cost, rural‑resort market. Kyrgass explained that rural‑resort communities can seek a waiver to build to a higher area‑median‑income (AMI) threshold (she cited a rural‑resort petition process that can allow projects to target up to 120% of AMI), and that the new housing needs assessment will be used to support such petitions.

Preservation of mobile‑home parks is a priority. Kyrgass said CHA and the Chaffee Housing Trust are working to acquire two parks that together represent nearly 100 units; the plan is to stabilize ownership and move toward resident‑owned community conversions over a timeline that may take several years. On that topic she said, "these will be held in an LLC until they can be converted over to resident owned communities." CHA plans to manage rents and operations during the conversion period.

Kyrgass also described organizational changes at CHA as the authority shifts from program delivery toward property ownership and asset management. The authority plans to add tenant and asset management roles, a full‑time housing navigator and a community case manager (grant‑funded through 2026), and is conducting an executive‑director search with the hope of hiring a permanent ED by the end of Q1 2025.

Trustees and members of the public pressed on the affordability of some recent private projects. One trustee voiced frustration that rents at a local project called the Midland appear out of reach for many residents; Kyrgass explained the financing reality that construction costs and state subsidy caps produce a gap that local, unrestricted funds must fill if rents are to be reduced further. She summarized: "The only way to cover that gap is with unrestricted funding. And so that either has to be philanthropic, or it has to be local funding sources."

Kyrgass closed by proposing a regional housing summit after the housing needs assessment is complete and by offering to work with Buena Vista staff on local questions the assessment should answer.

The trustees did not take immediate action on CHA's projects during the meeting; several trustees asked staff to coordinate with CHA on the assessment scope and to consider work‑session time to review pro forma or financing details for specific projects.