San Miguel County approves MOU with Telluride Foundation to join shared-equity down-payment program

San Miguel County commissioners voted to approve a memorandum of understanding with the Telluride Foundation on March 26 authorizing the county to contribute funds to a shared-equity down-payment assistance program intended to help regional workforce households purchase deed‑restricted homes in the county.

The agreement, which commissioners authorized by motion, implements a program the Telluride Foundation described as a “shared appreciation” loan model that provides up to $100,000 in down‑payment assistance per household. The loan carries no payments or interest until the homeowner sells or refinances, at which time the principal and a pro rata share of appreciation are repaid to the revolving fund, Telluride Foundation representative Elaine Dimas said.

Why it matters: County officials said the MOU is intended to expand a regional program that local governments and a nonprofit are matching with private philanthropy and state resources to increase access to homeownership for area workers. County staff and the foundation said the fund is structured to revolve so repayments can finance future loans.

County manager Mike Bordonia told the commissioners the county previously participated in smaller, forgivable down‑payment loans that had limited deployment; the new program responds to demand and the Telluride Foundation’s larger fundraising effort. "We set an internal goal of $1,400,000 for the first year and we met that goal in February," Dimas said.

Program details provided at the meeting: the Telluride Foundation described a two‑year pilot that the foundation has paired with private donations and with loan servicing by the Impact Development Fund, a community development financial institution that will act as the lender and administrator of loan paperwork. The foundation reported finishing its fundraising and finalizing a service agreement with the Impact Development Fund; the foundation said families are already in a queue and the program hopes to launch by the end of the month.

Eligibility and geography: The county’s approved contribution is restricted to deployments within San Miguel County. The Telluride Foundation said its service area extends beyond San Miguel County to neighboring parts of the region (including Ouray County and Rico), and that qualifying properties must be deed‑restricted or deed‑restricted as part of the transaction to be eligible. Mountain Village is not contributing cash but is expanding its own shared‑equity program (referred to in the meeting as the YESS program) and has agreed to accept applications that meet its rules; the result is intended to allow stacking of funding across jurisdictions.

Funding layering and state funds: The Impact Development Fund applied on behalf of the program for state down‑payment assistance funds (referred to in materials as the Prop 1/2/3 process and existing Division of Housing funds). The foundation said the state program extended existing down‑payment assistance through 2026; county staff and the foundation said that arrangement lets the program “stack” local, private and state funds while preserving a less restrictive eligibility threshold for the foundation’s funds (foundation limit cited at 50% AMI in contrast with the state money at higher AMI levels).

Discussion and concerns: Commissioners asked whether county funds would be consumed primarily by applicants in the Town of Telluride; staff and the foundation said geography restrictions can be set by donor intent and by the foundation and that some private donations are already restricted to specific jurisdictions (for example a donor from Ouray restricted funds to Ouray County). Commissioners expressed a preference to allow the county’s initial $200,000 contribution to be deployed across the entire county for the pilot year and revisit boundaries if funds concentrated in Telluride exhausted the local allocation.

Public comment and oversight: One member of the public raised concerns about public comment access and consistency of opportunity to speak; the county clerk responded that public comment procedures require timely sign‑in and that commenters can join earlier if access is difficult. The Telluride Foundation committed to quarterly reporting to the commissioners with anonymized borrower profiles and program deployment data so the county can track where funds are used.

Vote: The motion to approve the MOU passed unanimously; the recorded votes show the two present commissioners voting yes. The MOU was authorized for execution and staff will finalize the agreement for signature.

Next steps: The foundation will finalize launch steps with Impact Development Fund and begin loan deployment. Commissioners discussed drafting a letter to the Telluride Town Council to encourage Town participation at their upcoming council meeting.