Housing staff recommend $5.4 million for four projects, from Grand Junction to Leadville

The largest recommendation is $3.25 million for Ascent at Salt Flats, a planned 144-apartment development in Grand Junction. Staff proposes a cash-flow loan through the Housing Development Grant program for construction costs. The project is planned for families earning 30 to 70 percent of area median income and includes an early-childhood education center and playground. The loan would carry a 2 percent interest rate and be repaid from project cash flow, with an additional 30-year affordability period. The Salt Flats site is already a state-backed bet: Grand Junction used a $2.2 million Proposition 123 land-banking grant and $1 million in city funds to acquire the 21.78-acre property at 450 28 Road, and the Western Slope Trellis reports the city expects about 450 homes at full buildout, including Ascent, which earlier received a $1.95 million Proposition 123 concessionary debt award.

In Fort Collins, staff recommends up to $1.2 million in Proposition 123 funding for Redtail Ponds, a 60-unit permanent supportive-housing property for people who have experienced chronic homelessness and veterans. The money would pay off the property's remaining mortgage rather than build new units; the application says retiring the debt would ease pressure from operating costs and recurring deficits and help preserve the homes and resident services. The recommendation depends on available funds, other funding commitments and required documents, including an executed housing-assistance payment contract and limited partnership agreement.

The other two recommendations are construction funding through the Housing Development Grant program: up to $715,000 for River Walk Affordable Rentals, a planned 13-unit development in Ouray serving households earning 70 to 90 percent of area median income, and $220,000 for the four-unit Rabbit Ears Quadplex in Leadville, with apartments listed at 100 percent of area median income. Both proposals call for an additional 30-year affordability period. They depend on available program funds, other financing commitments and required pre-agreement documents, and River Walk also needs approval from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade for its revised unit mix.

All together, the recommendations would help build 161 new apartments and preserve 60 supportive-housing units. None of the amounts is a final award: the State Housing Board, an eight-member body created in 1970 that reviews financing requests for the Division of Housing, takes up the staff recommendations and the Oct. 6 agenda that day. If the board approves the package as recommended, the four projects would draw $5.385 million from Housing Development Grant and Proposition 123 dollars.