Avon takes the long view on employee housing plan

Avon staff and the Town Council have started to work on creating an employee housing plan for town employees. The employee housing plan was first presented during the Avon Town Council meeting on March 26.

Avon staff “salaries and benefits are pretty competitive,” when compared with other employers, said Patti Liermann, the town’s housing long-range planner.

“Where we can have some competitive advantage is by offering housing options and opportunities directly for the staff,” she said.

The need for housing is a county-wide issue, with the price of free market housing far exceeding the purchasing ability of those earning near the area median income. “Housing affordability is going to be a long-term and permanent problem,” Liermann said. 

The current median price in Eagle County for a townhome is $1.3 million, according to Liermann. The number increases to $1.7 million for a single-family home or duplex.

Support Local Journalism

Donate

“Our wages just simply won’t keep up with that,” Liermann said.

At the Piedmont, a one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit rents for $3,100 to $3,200 per month, and at Sunridge Condominiums and LiftView Condominiums, a two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit rents for $3,500 per month, said Council member Lindsay Hardy.

Monthly rent rates at Buffalo Ridge Apartments and EagleBend Apartments in Avon are “the lowest upvalley,” said Eric Heil, Avon town manager, but there is a five-year waitlist for the units.

The high rental and purchase prices of housing in Eagle County have led to increased Avon employee turnover, and challenges with hiring, as employees struggle to find places to live that they can afford.

“We probably have over 10 job offers we’ve made in the last year that were not accepted because — that we made to people outside of the county, that, after we gave them the job offer, and after it was real, and after they looked at what rents (were) and what was available, they said, ‘Nope, it’s just too hard,'” Heil said.

A survey of town staff revealed that the top concern for most employees was finding affordable housing.

“We’re really looking at what can we do to help people get into housing so (employees) can stay here, and we can retain our talent,” Liermann said.

Taking the long view, the housing problem is projected to only get worse. The prices of free-market units continue to outpace wage increases, as people leaving Eagle County sell their homes at prices current locals cannot afford.

“I think that in 10, 20 years there absolutely will be no free market option,” Heil said. “If we actually want to have employees, driving police cars, driving snowplows, we have to provide the housing,” he said.

The employee housing plan

At the moment, Avon provides housing assistance of some kind to 5% of its employees. The aim, Liermann said, is to make housing available for 50 to 80% of Avon’s staff. “It’s a hard goal, but I think we can get there,” Liermann said.

The plan presented to the council on Tuesday included a 20-year view of housing, with scheduled revisions every six years. To create the plan, town staff looked at the housing plans of other nearby governments and employers, surveyed town staff about their housing needs, examined current and future housing needs and goals, and looked at the town’s employee wages, area median income, and housing costs in the area.

There are several avenues an employer can take to provide housing support to its employees. Options include purchasing and leasing units to employees, purchasing and buying down existing units to sell to employees at a lower price, offering a housing stipend, offering financial support to employees looking to purchase free market units, and more.

In Avon, part of the purchasing assistance can come through the town’s Mi Casa program, through which the town pays 12% of the purchase price of a home (with a cap of $100,000), and the new owner puts down 3%. The employee housing plan included a proposal for a double Mi Casa option for town employees, which would mean the town would contribute up to 24% (capped at $200,000) of a home’s purchase price.

Another proposed option within the Avon employee housing plan was for the town to purchase residential properties priced between $600,000 and $1 million to resell to town employees at a 30% discount. Homes in this program and the double Mi Casa program would be subject to a price cap on resale and the town’s right to repurchase.

This year, the town has $2.5 million in its community housing fund, which is earmarked to fund all types of community housing in Avon, not just for town employees.

“What we’re looking at for town employees is a minority percentage, by a lot, of what we’re trying to do for the general public,” Heil said. 

Council feedback

Council members had several concerns about the Avon employee housing plan as presented.

Council member Chico Thuon suggested providing employees with a housing stipend to lessen the burden of housing in the short term and provide assistance to a broader base of employees. “It does give some satisfaction to some employees who worry about the month-to-month,” Thuon said.

Town staff were against the housing stipend because it is not a permanent solution compared to purchasing units, and can be costly.

Council member R.J. Andrade cited concerns about the town’s employee housing program taking housing opportunities from other businesses, particularly small businesses. “I get that the town needs employees, but so does every business in town,” Andrade said.

Tamra Underwood, mayor pro tem, asked for more information on the financing of the proposed programs. “I need to see projections against our community housing fund,” Underwood said. “$2.5 million sounds like a lot; we all know it doesn’t go very far,” she said.

The employee housing plan was not approved at the March 26 meeting and will return to council at a later meeting, likely in May.