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In Colorado mountain towns, where affordable housing is scarce, ‘even living out of your car is gentrified’

Crackdowns on sleeping in vehicles, cramping last-resort lifestyle, threaten service

Bruce Finley
The Denver Post
Annie San Roman, 18, folds one of her work dresses as she puts away her laundry on Aug. 2, 2022, inside the government-owned trailer where she lives as part of a program to house members of the workforce in Salida. San Roman grew up in the area and currently has one job, but she hopes soon to start a second job at grocery store in town. The City of Salida and Chaffee Housing Authority started the program, called “Open Doors”, to help local workers find affordable places to stay. Tenants need to be referred by their employer to apply to the program.
RJ Sangosti
The Denver Post

Blocked from sleeping in vehicles parked within municipal boundaries, workers in profit-minded Colorado mountain towns now must seek “safe outdoor space” — in Walmart lots, forests or newly designated areas with Wi-Fi and access to bathrooms.

But homeowners oppose these SOS zones in Salida and Breckenridge as “band-aids” encouraging vehicle-based living. And workers who park there are charged $300 a month in Salida and $45 in Breckenridge ($80 if rec center showers are included).

Salida leaders also are purchasing camping trailers, for workers to rent for $650 a month, positioned east of town by the sewage disposal plant next to tiny homes.



A camper beats couch-surfing and saves commuting time from forests, said Annie San Ramon, 18, who lives in one of the first five. She timed out of foster care, wanted to stay in Salida, where she was born and raised, and pedals a bicycle to work that includes volunteer help for restorative justice.

“It’s affordable. It gives you a safe place to be,” San Ramon said.

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Annie San Roman, 18, closes the screen door on her trailer in Salida on Aug. 2, 2022. Across the state, mountain communities are grappling with a lack of affordable housing.
RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post

Colorado’s widening kibosh on sleeping in vehicles adds to festering pain beneath the state’s recreation-oriented tourism and house-buying economic fervor. Towns are transformed and celebrated as mountain amusement havens where river rafts and mountain bikes glide. But an intensifying housing squeeze hits workers hardest and now threatens service. These new accommodations have emerged as government-backed efforts to retain workers and also keep parking spaces free for visitors and well-to-do newcomers.

Read more via The Denver Post.


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