Forest Service offers 3 unoccupied cabins to homeless coalition

ASPEN - The Forest Service is offering the Aspen Homeless Coalition three "ghost cabins" in the White River National Forest.

The only problem is that the cabins near the ghost town of Ashcroft, long unoccupied, must be dismantled and moved, the Vail Daily reported. They are among eight structures being removed from the area.

The coalition, made up of area law enforcement agencies, representatives from the religious community and mental health and substance abuse case managers, have 60 days to decide whether to take them or they will be auctioned off.

"I guess they're pretty old. They're not up to code and there are no utilities in them," said Nan Sundeen, director of health and human services and a member of the coalition. She said the coalition is interested but remains uncertain whether they can be used.

"They'd have to find a place to put them. And that's the issue," said Cindy Houben, director of Pitkin County Community Development. "In this community, I don't know where you'd find a land appropriate to that."

The three buildings - the Kellog Cabin, Hunley Warming Hut and the Schoolhouse building - are in various states of disrepair.

The Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, which empowers the federal government to give properties to government agencies and nonprofit organizations working with homeless people, makes the deal possible.

"We've got too many buildings. We can't maintain them," said Martha Moran of the Aspen Sopris Ranger District. "These buildings are insufficient. They don't meet our standards to allow the public in them or let people live in them," Moran said.

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Information from: Vail Daily, http://www.vaildaily.com