Eagle County School District sizes up its employee housing progress
District is ahead of schedule in providing employee housing units, but aims to set higher goal; to retain teachers and staff, district needs to provide housing for 80% of employees
Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily archive
What does it take to attract and keep teachers and school staff in Eagle County? One significant piece of the puzzle is making sure they have a place to live.
In 2020, the Eagle County School District wrote a 10-year plan for creating more affordable housing options for its employees. The goal was originally 120 units, but that number will need to be revised this spring.
The district will reach 120 units “probably by 2029,” said Sandy Farrell, the district’s chief operating officer, in a presentation to the school board on Wednesday, Oct. 23.
To keep teachers and staff around, the district needs to provide housing for 80% of its employees, Farrell estimated.
Employee Housing Master Plan and goals
The Employee Housing Master Plan is part of the district’s strategic plan overall and can be found on the district’s website. The original plan was created in 2016, but it received an update in 2020 that set an aim of obtaining 120 units of housing for district employees by 2030.
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“Overall, our goal is to continue to pursue affordable housing, and provide these opportunities for our employees,” Farrell said.
The district was “aggressive” from the start at finding and acting on opportunities for more housing, Farrell said.
“The more that we have our fully staffed and high-quality teachers, it has a better impact on our students and their learning environment,” Farrell said.
Within the goal of 120 units, the affordability and type of housing offered was divided into three groups. Of the total pool, one third were designated to be affordable for renters earning at or below 80% Area Median Income, one third to be affordable for those that wish to purchase their unit and are earning at or below 140% of Area Median Income and the remaining third with flexible price points.
Currently, a household of one earning $52,750, or a household of four earning $75,350, is considered to be earning 80% of Area Median Income in Eagle County. One hundred and fifty percent of Area Median Income for a household of one is $136,650, while a family of four would need to earn $195,150.
The district will “probably” reach the goal of creating 120 units of employee housing before the end of 10 years, Farrell said, and will need to update the master plan accordingly.
The district is also supposed to “facilitate at least as many additional housing opportunities through partnerships, programs and linking to additional resources,” the presentation noted.
School district’s housing options
The district currently offers more than 85 units of affordable housing to its employees.
The district finished building 37 apartment units at Miller Flats and the final residents moved in last April, which Farrell called “our biggest accomplishment that is evident.”
Through partnerships with Habitat for Humanity, the district was also able to offer a total of 24 units for ownership, 12 at Second Street in Eagle and another 12 at Grace Avenue in Gypsum.
The district already owns a handful of homes across the county — five in Gypsum, two in EagleVail and two in Minturn.
The district also holds a number of master leases, though the ultimate goal would be to move away from them with the creation of more district-owned units, Farrell said. The district currently master leases five units at Two10 Castle Peak, two units at Kayak Crossing, five apartments at The Overlook at Eby Creek (which were empty but now are filling up), two homes at Buckhorn Valley Phase 7, three duplexes at Gracious Savior (which are wrapping up construction) and a condo in Avon.
The district formerly held master leases at the EagleBend Apartments and at the Piedmont, both apartment complexes in Avon. “That was just a management thing, where it was easier for our employees to lease directly from them,” Farrell said.
How to create new housing
The district has three main strategies for cultivating new housing. The first is to develop a partnership with Habitat for Humanity to obtain more housing in Gypsum and Maloit Park in Minturn. This will be discussed in a work session ahead of the school board’s December meeting.
The second is to update the Housing Master Plan to more accurately reflect housing accomplishments and needs by June 30. “When we look at our economy and what we have available here, the challenges that our teachers and our young children that live here have, in talking with Phil (Qualman, district superintendent) too, it’s closer to 80% of our staff that’s going to need housing over time, so as far as what our inventory looks like, we’ll continue to push to make that happen,” Farrell said. “But I think a more realistic number needs to be put out so we can keep our eyes on that goal and keep moving forward.”
The third is to secure more funding by June 30, 2026 to “maximize housing developments at Maloit Park,” Farrell said. The district’s Maloit Park project plans to build up to 138 units of housing in Minturn.
The Maloit Park project has been in the referral comment period with the town of Minturn since last November. “But we’re really close and hoping to get in front of the Planning and Zoning Commission in December,” Farrell said.
Last November, voters approved the district taking on $100 million in bonds to fund more employee housing, among other capital projects, but these funds will not be enough for the Maloit Park project. While the district has already put funding into creating infrastructure for the subdivision, building the actual housing units will require a large additional source of funding.
In August, the district broke ground on the Gypsum Early Learning Center and employee housing units, located near Red Hill Elementary School and Gypsum Creek Middle School. The project will start with one apartment complex of 20 units, but the school board will see a proposal for another 20 units soon. The housing should be completed in early to mid-2026, and the bond funding passed last November will fund the construction of all 40 units, Farrell said.
The district anticipates receiving another 10 townhomes in Gypsum through another partnership with Habitat for Humanity.
The district is involved in the Timber Ridge Village project in Vail that broke ground this month. The district’s four units should be completed on the earlier side of the seven-building, 302-unit construction project, Farrell said.
The apartment complex’s location in Vail “creates the opportunity for teachers at Red Sandstone or HPS (Homestake Peak School) or VSSA (Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy) to have a little closer access to employee housing,” Farrell said.
After local businesses purchased just 60 of the units, the complex’s developer, Triumph Development, has altered its approach to provide more one-bedroom, rather than four-bedroom, options. Triumph Development recently offered the school district the opportunity to buy more units, Farrell said, and she told them to bring the proposal to the district’s land resources committee.
Water is a concern for both the Gypsum and Minturn projects. Both towns supply their own water, and both are saddled with staggering costs to improve their water treatment systems. Minturn has had a moratorium on the issuance of new water taps since 2020, an obstacle the Maloit Park project will need to overcome. Construction on the Gypsum project is moving forward with plans for water unfinalized.
