Mi Casa Avon has most impactful year yet with funding left to spend
The deed restriction program has helped 14 Avon residents become homebuyers this year, the most since the program's 2020 inception
Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily
A new report from the town of Avon shows that the ¡Mi Casa Avon! deed restriction program has had its most impactful year to date, facilitating the purchase of 14 homes for local buyers in the year 2022. This brings the total number of homes purchased through ¡Mi Casa Avon! to 35 since its inception in 2020, and shows a steady incline in community utilization of the program.
¡Mi Casa Avon! makes it easier for Avon residents to become homeowners by allowing them to apply for 8-12% in down payment assistance from the town’s community housing fund, capped at $100,000 per purchase. In exchange, the town places a deed restriction on the home that requires the buyer to use the property as a primary residence for three years, after which it can be either rented or sold to an employee residing in Eagle County.
The Avon Town Council approved the highest amount of funding for the program in 2022, with $1.3 million set aside from its community housing fund. Combined with the unspent money from 2021, the town began the year with $1,438,018 total funds available for ¡Mi Casa Avon! program. This funding is more than double what the program started with in 2020, at $650,000, and has enabled annual deed restriction purchases to rise from eight to 14 in just two years.
The latest quarterly report on the program, which runs through the end of October, shows that the town has spent $934,460 on down payment funding thus far. There are still $378,158, or 26% of total funds, available for use through the end of the year.
The average sales price of all homes purchased in 2022 is $565,867 and the average funding from the town per home was $67,322, numbers that nearly match the average over the program’s history. Almost all of the funding was granted at 12%, the highest rate available to buyers, with only two homes reaching the maximum funding at 10.5% for a $950,000 home and 11.6% for an $860,000 home, both in Wildridge.
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Purchases are being made in neighborhoods throughout the town, with five homes purchased in West Beaver Creek, three in Wildridge, three in Metcalf, two in Nottingham, and one on Hurd Lane. The majority of homes are two-bedroom units, as has been the pattern throughout the past two years, with only three three-bedroom units and one one-bedroom unit in the mix.
Any ¡Mi Casa Avon! money that is not spent by the end of December will roll over into the program’s 2023 funding pool, which is looking to be just as robust as 2022. Avon’s proposed budget for 2023 currently includes $1.2 million for the ¡Mi Casa Avon! program, which will enable the support of a similar number of homes next year. During election season, all of the Avon Town Council candidates referred to ¡Mi Casa Avon! as the town’s most successful program in addressing the affordable housing crisis and expressed support for expanding funding in future years.
To apply for the ¡Mi Casa Avon! program, visit Avon.org.