After several reviews over the past year, a committee has been tasked with taking a closer look at plans for Breckenridge’s upcoming Runway Neighborhood, and its officials are using a new lens: equity. 

The Breckenridge Social Equity Advisory Committee on Thursday doled out feedback related to the affordability and accessibility of the project set to relocate free skier parking off of Airport Road. 

The committee’s evaluation of the neighborhood follows reviews from the Breckenridge Planning Commission, which ensures the plans fit town building codes, and Breckenridge Town Council, which gauges if the project is a good fit for town. 

Units in the Runway Neighborhood are specifically for people whose income is anywhere from 85% to 180% of the area median income, which is set by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. All units will have a deed restriction requiring occupants live and work in Summit County. Some units will be priced at market rate and others will have deed-restrictions that require the people occupying them to fall within certain income ranges while also limiting the appreciation of the unit’s value to 3% per year. 

Elected officials have shown commitment to carry out the first phase of the development, yielding 81 units for a $50 million town subsidy, but officials are holding off committing to a second phase. The second phase could yield another 67 units, but economic uncertainty around tariffs and how they may impact the construction industry stalled the town’s commitment. Town staff members said the town chose a local developer, Neighborhood Crafters, who said they keep the project on budget for the town.

Weighing the attainability of the neighborhood

Pricing for units in the neighborhood could range from $351,000 to $1.3 million. Some social equity advisory commissioners felt the pricing range wasn’t accessible for the local workforce. 

“These prices are insane, and I don’t think this is really reflecting what we need,” commissioner Isaura Cirillo said.

Commissioner Jordan Burns said many of the commissioners didn’t feel the price was “very attainable” for the local workforce when the project first came across their desk. 

Housing manager Laurie Best said the town is basing the prices off of area median income metrics, and there will likely be a buffer because the town recognizes not everyone fits neatly into an area median income bracket that’s reflective of their yearly income.

In terms of workforce housing, these brackets dictate either someone’s rent or what they pay to buy a for-sale deed-restricted unit. Local officials have no control over these brackets, and many state and federal housing grants require the use of area median income in workforce housing projects so there’s some assurance a project will serve the intended target of the program. 

Some feel the metrics determined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development are inaccurate and don’t represent real local wages. This can make for a situation where people are placed in brackets tied to rents and home prices that they find unaffordable. 

Cirillo said she’s heard of a few cases in Breckenridge where local families won housing lotteries for a unit with a price that supposedly matched their area median income bracket, but they had to forego the opportunity because they couldn’t afford it. 

Commissioner Ujala Vatas said she could see this problem arising with the Runway Neighborhood. 

“I think this is not truly affordable for a lot of people that are going to be in (these area median income) categories, especially when you’re taking into account childcare, groceries and heating and all the other things, when 30% of your monthly income should technically go toward housing,” she said. 

She also wondered how the town’s housing staff qualified someone’s income, and Best replied they take into account salary from employment as well as other forms of income, like investment income. 

Vatas also wanted to know if the town housing staff felt there was a true need for this type of workforce housing, touching on community conversations about some workforce housing rental units sitting unoccupied. The topic came up at a May 27 Breckenridge Town Council meeting where elected officials detailed constituents telling them units were open, particularly in the Vista Verde workforce housing complex. Best said the Vista Verde complex is now at 93% occupancy, which is considered good. She said town staff members do find there’s a need for homeownership opportunities for people earning 85% to 180% of the area median income. She said there’s particularly a need for four-bedroom units right now.

Pushing for education and priority for longtime residents

Best said the housing department plans to hold an information session, which will be in Spanish and English, on home buying sometime in the fall to catch interested people up to speed on what they’ll need when buying a home in terms of financing it and other important tips.

Commissioner wondered if undocumented people were eligible to buy a home in the Runway Neighborhood, and housing program manager Darcy Henning said the town will not consider citizenship status.

Cirillo said it will be important to communicate to ITIN number holders that the process of buying a home might look different for them. An ITIN number functions similarly to a social security number, but is for those who do not have proof of legal residency.

She said, in certain cases, ITIN holders are offered higher interest rates from lenders compared to social security number holders. According to the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau, this can be common, and lenders also generally require higher down payments from ITIN holders who are borrowing money.

In terms of accessibility when it comes to acquiring a unit in the Runway Neighborhood, Best said town staff members were suggesting pulling back on giving people priorities in the lottery process. Units in Runway will likely be doled out through a lottery process, as is the case of most workforce housing neighborhoods or complexes.

In some cases with workforce housing lotteries, Breckenridge will give an extra ticket to people who have lived in the community for at least 10 years and to those who work in Breckenridge or Blue River. Best said staff members thought maybe this was inequitable, but most commissioners didn’t agree. They wanted to see longtime residents get priority.

Many commissioners wanted to see priority given, citing friends and their own experiences loosing housing lotteries to find out a new comer to the community won instead.

Commissioner Michelle Mahoney said anyone’s whose been able to live in Summit for over a decade made investments in the community to stay here, and they deserve to have better chance in the lottery by getting an extra ticket or two.

Commissioner Jotwan Daniels suggested a point system of sorts to further increase the chances of a longtime local winning the lottery.

Best said she heard the message loud and clear and would relay the feedback of wanting priority opportunities in the lottery process back to town staff. She said this lottery process may come with a $50 entry fee to cover the expense of running a housing lottery, which she said can be costly.

No official decisions were made at the July 16 meeting.