Residents of 3-Mile Mobile Home Park in the Glenwood Springs area will be going before Garfield County commissioners on Monday to ask them to opt-in to receive special state funds for affordable housing before a Nov. 1 deadline.
Proposition 123, which was passed by Colorado voters in 2022, allocates money already collected through the state income tax to go toward affordable housing. The legislation created the State Affordable Housing Fund administered by the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) and the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT).
The park’s residents want to apply for Proposition 123 funds to help them take over ownership of their park from local social-justice nonprofit MANAUS and its subsidiary organization the Roaring Fork Community Development Corporation (Roaring Fork CDC). The Roaring Fork CDC struck a deal to purchase the park from its longtime private owners in late 2022 and closed on the sale the next spring, with the intent of transferring ownership to the park’s residents.
The transition process to a resident-owned park has been ongoing for several years and 3-Mile resident Tony O’Rourke, who first moved to the valley in 1979, said the funds could help them in the final stretch.
“If someone else buys this park, they're going to kick everybody out, and then you're going to lose another 30 or 40 people that do the menial labor in the valley,” O’Rourke said. “We're the ones that are working the restaurants, mowing your lawns, you know, cleaning your dishes up in Aspen.”
Proposition 123 funds are only available to local governments, including towns, cities and counties, that opt-in to the program, and Garfield County is one of 21 out of 64 counties in the state that hasn’t opted-in, though all six of its municipalities from Carbondale to Parachute have joined.
3-Mile Mobile Home Park has a Glenwood Springs street address, but the park is technically located in the unincorporated part of the county, which means residents can only apply for the state funding if the commissioners agree to opt-in.
In order to participate, unincorporated Garfield County would have to agree to increase its affordable housing stock by 3% each year and create a fast-track approval process for such projects. Projects led by outside entities such as private developers and nonprofits would count towards the tally, and the only penalty for not reaching the 3% threshold is that the county would once again not be able to use the funds.
While committing to these stipulations could be viewed as unlikely for three county commissioners who have often voiced their skepticism of publicly-funded affordable housing projects, Commissioner Tom Jankovsky said he’s open to the idea and hopes they can make a decision at Monday’s meeting.
“I don't know why we wouldn't support [Proposition] 123, I think affordable housing, low-income housing, it’s a way to achieve that,” Jankovsly said. “As long as there's no fiscal risk to us and the state doesn't become involved in our planning and zoning, then I don't see any downside.”
Last year, Habitat for Humanity of the Roaring Fork Valley President Gail Schwartz approached the commissioners about opting-in to the state program to help fund a proposed land-banking project. But Schwartz said Habitat decided not to submit an official request after hearing from county officials that her efforts were unlikely to be successful.
“What we're losing out on is our fair share of accessing these state funds that we are already contributing to,” Schwartz said. “It's difficult for us in rural communities to access funding, but if we can get the resources from Proposition 123, we can help the county meet its housing needs.”
If the commissioners opt-in to the state program, 3-Mile residents could be eligible to apply for a range of funding opportunities from infrastructure work to land acquisition as well as money set aside specifically for mobile home parks.
“What's most important to us and the residents right now is that infrastructure work, but there is also additional funding out there for purchasing and other opportunities to help ideally reduce the initial cost of purchase to the residents,” said Andy Kadlec, the board chair of Roaring Fork CDC.
As part of their submission for consideration to the county commissioners, 3-Mile residents included a petition, which as of Thursday had over 70 signatures from other community members.
“Having the county opt-in to Proposition 123 is going to affect so many more projects and so many more community members than just the residents at 3-Mile Park. This is really opening the door to any affordable housing development,” Kadlec said.
If Garfield County commissioners decide not to opt-in before the Nov. 1 deadline, the county won’t be eligible to participate in the program again until next fall.
But for O’Rourke and his fellow 3-Mile Mobile Home Park residents, another year feels like too long to wait to preserve essential workforce housing.
“The working class is under threat in this valley, and really any mountain town in Colorado and beyond,” O’Rourke said. “So you're sterilizing certain stretches of the high Rocky Mountains, and it breaks my heart.”
Editor’s Note: The Garfield County commissioners voted unanimously on Monday, Oct. 21 to opt-in to receive Proposition 123 funds for affordable housing ahead of the state’s Nov. 1 deadline.
