Boulder County Commissioners recently received an update on the Boulder County Housing Authority’s plan to sell seven older, scattered properties due to high maintenance costs. Up to 25 more properties could be sold in the future.
The Housing Authority recently received appraisals for the properties being sold through Colorado Group. Marketing materials are expected to be ready and the properties available for sale in the next few weeks.
As the housing authority looks to sell these properties, it is recovering from last year’s budget woes that resulted in a net loss. Recent financial reports show that maintenance costs and administrative salaries will be well over budget in 2023.
Susana Lopez-Baker, executive director of the Boulder County Housing Authority, described the sale of the properties as a strategic decision.
“We aim to reduce maintenance and operating costs, including by more effectively concentrating our resources at larger locations and reducing our scattered presence,” she wrote in an email. “This approach helps us better manage expenses and increase overall efficiency, which is consistent with our goal of maintaining a leaner and more cost-effective portfolio.”
The seven properties for sale this year are located in Lafayette and Longmont and include a total of 14 residential units. The properties are single-family homes, duplexes and four-family homes. They are not subject to title restrictions but were offered at below-market rents.
Two of them are wholly owned by the housing authority, while the rest belong to a bond group and the proceeds of the sale are used to repay the bonds. The properties were built between 1910 and 1980.
Lopez-Baker said the county compared rental income with maintenance costs of the properties for sale and concluded the sale was necessary due to the high costs of ongoing maintenance and rehabilitation.
The buildings needed renovations to the parking lots, roof and sewer system, among other things. None of that work required professional remediation, but to meet housing authority standards would require significant reconstruction, Lopez-Baker said.
In total, the Boulder County Housing Authority manages about 70 properties with a total of 908 housing units. While the district is losing 14 housing units, the new Willoughby Corner development in Lafayette will add about 400 more.
Boulder County Commissioners approved the sale about a year ago and were given an update at a meeting last week.
“These properties are really expensive and difficult to manage,” Commissioner Ashley Stolzmann said during the meeting. “It’s really good to see that fiscal responsibility.”
County officials said residents of the properties were notified a year ago that their apartments were being evaluated for possible sale and were then given 90 days to move out. The county did not refill the vacant apartments when the tenants left, so only four of the properties were occupied. About a dozen residents had to move.
Lopez-Baker said the housing authority has offered to help residents find new housing. She said that includes working with the Boulder and Longmont housing authorities to find other affordable housing properties with vacancies, as well as offering several of their own properties as alternatives. The county also provides up to $5,000 per displaced resident to help cover moving costs.
She said several residents who became homeless had moved to other affordable housing units in Boulder County, while some “wanted to explore other options.”
“We are doing our best to provide new accommodation to all those affected,” she said.
She pointed to Willoughby Corner as an example of where the county plans to focus its resources in the future.
Willoughby Corner, being built at the southwest intersection of 120th and Emma Streets, will include 400 below-market rental apartments and permanently affordable homes for sale. The waitlist for the first phase of the project opened in June.
Phase one includes a 63-unit multifamily building reserved exclusively for residents 55 and older and four multifamily buildings with 129 rental apartments. Phase two includes 128 multifamily rental apartments. Phase three includes 80 affordable homes for sale.
Construction of the first phase is expected to be completed in December.
“We really see our mission as creating affordable housing,” Lopez-Baker said.
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