Lewis: We can solve the affordable housing puzzle | Part 3: My 10-point plan to really fix housing affordability
Last week, I argued that housing in the Vail Valley isn’t failing because we lack compassion, money, or ideas. It’s failing because are focused on taxes, subsidies, and regulations when we should be focusing on coordination, tax cuts, and simplification. Essentially the objective should be to actually make homes more plentiful and less expensive.
We already live in one housing and labor ecosystem. Anyone trying to hire seasonal or year-round workers knows that. Anyone who has watched a modest housing project die under years of delay knows that too.
This is what I propose:
1. Treat the Vail Valley as one housing and labor market.
If we’re willing to admit the Vail Valley functions as one housing and labor ecosystem, then a real solution must be coordinated. Formalize coordination among towns and the county with shared goals, shared metrics, and shared responsibility. Stop planning as if town borders are economic walls.
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2. Create one core housing rulebook across the valley.
Same affordability definitions. Same income calculations. Same deed-restriction logic. Workers shouldn’t lose eligibility because they crossed a town line.
3. Make housing subsidies portable.
Assistance should follow people, not addresses. A worker shouldn’t have to start over because they moved twelve miles.
4. Replace “process” with fixed-time permitting.
If a project meets objective standards, it should be approved on a clock—not after an endurance contest. Predictability lowers costs more effectively than almost any subsidy.
5. Lower per-unit costs by right, not by exception.
Scale fees by unit size, not flat per door. Reduce parking mandates where transit exists. Stop forcing modest housing to fight like it’s controversial.
6. Plan housing with commuting, not against it.
Different parts of the valley should focus on different housing types based on land cost and scale—by design, not denial. Equity is reliable commute times, not proximity fantasies.
7. Treat transit as housing infrastructure.
Every ten minutes shaved off a commute meaningfully expands affordability. Housing policy without transit is just wishful thinking. I will note that some of this is already happening.
8. Unlock ADUs in large vacation homes.
Offer property-tax abatements and fee reductions for ADUs rented long-term to local workers, with real guardrails against short-term rentals. Ban HOA fees and restrictions on ADUs. This is the positive way to unlock those “vacant homes.”
9. Regulate and tax short-term rentals honestly.
Short-term rentals are a land-use choice; we simply need to tax them appropriately. Right now, an owner can make significantly more money converting a long-term rental into a STR. One reason is that the playing field isn’t fair as hotels are taxed significantly higher.
According to the latest Eagle County housing survey, 18% of overall moves (and the bulk of forced evictions) of locals are caused by rental conversions to SDR’s. We need to face up to the fact that this is one case where under-regulation (or more specifically – an unfair tax structure) has worked against the affordable housing objective.
10. Require large employers to help house the workforce they depend on.
Through master leases, regional contributions, or linkage fees. Housing labor cannot remain someone else’s problem.
Housing in the Vail Valley doesn’t fail because we lack empathy. It fails because we substitute symbolism, and subsidies for simplification and coordination. Think about the word “affordability.” There is only one way to get there — you must reduce costs. I think we all know that it is very easy to create complexity (and cost) and very hard to create simplicity but that is what we must do.
We are not going to get there with increased taxes and regulation — frankly, it requires just the opposite — simpler rules and incentives vs punishment. Look at where we are now — even with all of the subsidies, new taxes, and regulations what has it gotten us? Nowhere. We are treading water. Affordable housing availability isn’t getting worse — but it’s not getting better.
We need to do the hard work. Align rules. Shorten timelines. Share responsibility. Plan like the valley already functions.
Mark Lewis, a Colorado native, had a long career in technology, including serving as the CEO of several tech companies. He’s now retired and writes thriller novels. Mark and his wife, Lisa, and their two Australian Shepherds, Kismet and Cowboy, reside in Edwards.
