Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Housing Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Grand County Housing Authority to adopt HUD fair-market rents for Black Bear Apartments
Summary
The Grand County Housing Authority voted to update its tenant selection and management plans to use HUD fair-market rents for Black Bear Apartments, moving away from an income‑percentage model that staff said had hindered leasing.
The Grand County Housing Authority on Jan. 7 voted to revise its management and tenant-selection plans for Black Bear Apartments in Grand Lake to use U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) fair-market rents instead of a rent-calculation method tied directly to individual incomes.
Why it matters: The change standardizes advertised rents, county staff said, to make units easier to lease and reduce administrative complexity. Housing authority staff told commissioners that basing rent strictly on a tenant’s paying about 30% of income had created wide variability and made some units hard to fill.
Sheena Darling, Grand County Housing Authority director, told the board the property initially used a CHFA-based rent schedule intended to set tenants’ rent at about 30% of income for households earning between 50% and 120% of area median income (AMI). Darling said that approach had proved a “burden” for some renters and was hampering leasing; under the proposed change new leases would follow HUD fair-market rents, while existing tenants who qualified under the earlier income-based rent would remain at their current rate until turnover.
Board members asked about administrative fairness and potential grandfathering. Commissioners and staff discussed whether to make exceptions for applicants near the middle of the AMI range; Darling recommended a single consistent rent standard for ease of administration and to avoid tracking different rules for different applicants. The board voted to approve the change and to allow current tenants who would pay more under the new schedule to stay at their existing rent until they move.
The director reported the property had three occupied units and five needing lease-up; commissioners said a standardized advertised price could help attract applicants. The motion approved updating both the tenant selection plan and the management plan to reflect HUD fair-market rents.
Ending: Housing staff will implement the new rent schedule at turnover and in future lease-ups. The board approved the change on a voice vote.
