The Aspen-Pitkin County Housing Authority gained 15 units back through compliance checks since 2024, officials said.
The unit turnovers were due to owners not residing in the unit, not working in Pitkin County or not meeting the qualifications of specific units, APCHA Compliance Analyst Jackie Marinaro told the APCHA board on Wednesday. The 15 units gained since 2024 were out of 452 actions taken to investigate compliance in APCHA’s ownership units.
APCHA staff conducted three site visits — as part of their ongoing effort to monitor compliance — all of which resulted in three units going for sale.
Each units’ owners did not actually live in the units, Marinaro said.
“We don’t want people abusing the process … but you see if there’s toothbrushes in the bathroom, you see if there’s food in the refrigerator,” she said. “We had one (site visit) where we were there in August and the Christmas tree was still up, so little indicators that help us do our job better.”
“Someone’s coming and goings aren’t dispositive of whether they’re residing in the unit, but they’re clues and the site visit, I think, works well,” she added.
APCHA was able to gain 15 units through compliance checks without having to go before the housing authority’s hearing officer. Staff investigate potential compliance violations for a variety of reasons, including in response to neighbor concerns or using data from biennial affidavits homeowners must complete to requalify their units every two years.
Five one bedroom units, two two-bedroom units, four three-bedroom units, one four-bedroom and one studio turned over after the compliance checks. They ranged from category two to resident-occupied units.
A random audit of about 120 APCHA units conducted from July 2023 to February 2024 found 91% of homeowners were in compliance with APCHA regulations. Some owners required reminders and follow ups before eventually meeting regulations.
The audit showed 11 owners out of compliance, Marinaro said. Since then, one property sold, and eight came back into compliance.
There are currently 20 open APCHA compliance cases, Marinaro said.
Marinaro is seeing increasing trends that are putting people out of compliance in APCHA units, including transferring home titles and not earning enough income in Pitkin County.
Some owners are placing their unit titles in the name of a trust or corporation or using a beneficiary deed. APCHA regulations and deed restrictions require the title to be in the name of the owner.
The housing authority is also running into owners who are self-employed but who don’t have typical tax documents — like a form 1099 — to prove work hours. Deputy Director of Housing, Operations and Property Management Cindy Christensen told the board APCHA is working on building outlines for people new to the program to understand the program, what may be required for owners and more.
“If you’re self-employed, here’s an idea of how you can show your work, here’s something else that you can do, because … there are some people out there, they work really really hard, but they don’t do invoices, they do other things,” she said. “This way, we’ll be able to tell them this is what we need to see and give them some type of an idea how to do it, then it’ll help them get qualified and stay qualified with us.”
APCHA is also finding people out of compliance for not residing in their unit, which is difficult to enforce, Marinaro said. Increased site visits, for which owners are given at least 24-hour notice, will help tackle it, she said.
“My goal is to have people in housing, but we do have to have rules in place,” Marinaro said.
