The Aspen-Pitkin County Housing Authority Board of Directors sent a new home repairs grant pilot program to the Pitkin Board of County Commissioners and the Aspen City Council for approval.
The program would award grants of up to $5,000 to homeowners to assist with repairing critical damage on their homes. The grants would not need to be repaid, and would only serve as funding assistance and a starting point for a pilot program.
“Aspen has one of the oldest affordable housing inventories in the state and there’s kind of a disconnect between free-market construction and affordable housing owners,” said housing policy analyst Liz Axberg. “We would be helping owners make much-needed repairs, and also might be able to give them the funds to make the more environmentally sustainable choice as well.”
Eligibility for the program would be based on category and need, and if APCHA collected more applications than available funding, a prioritization process would be implemented to fund the most critical projects.
The program also would include a match system to fund the projects. Eligibility for this system would be based on the owner’s current category and income. For example, a Category 1 homeowner with a $7,000 project would pay 10% of the cost and be eligible for the $5,000 grant. Category 2 owners would be responsible for 20% of the cost and Category 3 owners would pay 30%, and so on.
According to a memorandum, APCHA would need $200,000 to fund the program. Staff plans to ask the city and county for financial support. If the full funding is approved, the program could serve ownership units outside Aspen city limits, and could support $5,000 grants to 40 homes.
Board members were supportive of moving the program forward so it can be discussed at the city and county level.
“I think my board is going to want some narratives about problems that APCHA’s heard or calls that APCHA gets, to really illustrate in a real-life setting how the program is being developed,” said Commissioner Kelly McNicholas Kury.
Later in the meeting, board members also discussed their upcoming retreat, where goals for the coming year will be planned. The retreat is scheduled for July 19.
Board members said they would be interested in ironing out a public communication plan and discussing capital reserves. Ward Hauenstein, who along with John Doyle served his first meeting as a city representative on Wednesday, said that he would appreciate having a session to bring Doyle and him up to speed.
Hauenstein and Doyle were appointed to replace Rachel Richards and Skippy Mesirow on the APCHA board when they left office last week. Hauenstein will serve as the city’s voting member, and Doyle will serve as an alternate member. Both were welcomed to the board by the other members and said they were looking forward to their new roles.
“We have big shoes to fill here,” Doyle said. “I look forward to learning and listening a lot.”