A NYT article reports on life for many ski-industry employees in Frisco, CO.
Homeless/Unhoused Workers in Ski Towns
- Thread starter jamesdeluxe
- Start date
Can anyone clarify the subsidy part of the equation?
"Mr. Aerenson, a retired lawyer and a ski instructor at Breckenridge, estimates that it costs the town $150,000 in subsidies to build a single unit of affordable housing, a process that takes years even when the funds are available."
This appears to be the case across the entire western world unfortunately.
EMSC
Well-known member
I don't know Frisco specifically (haven't read the article yet), but generally two ways that 'affordable housing' gets built in CO in general. Either a local tax added on the normal RE tax locally (has to be voted on in CO; local Gov't can't just add it), or local laws that require either % of new build condo's/Apts be sold/rented as 'affordable', or a payment to the town (eg tax) in lieu of doing so. So many towns end up as the builder/owner of new 'affordable' condos and Apts for low wage residents (deed or rent restricted to go to people at or below certain % of median local income).
I use quotes around the word 'Affordable' above because the units are anything but affordable to build. They might be cheaper than luxury housing, but also far from the definition of 'affordable'. Sounds like dense unit condos (I'm assuming without reading article), implies $150K+ in subsidies per unit to build in Frisco (eg loss per unit when they actually sell to locals).