Longmont Workforce Housing Project Asks For State Support

LONGMONT, CO -- The Boulder County Housing Authority has applied for state and federal funding to help finance construction of a new, 73-home affordable rental homes development in downtown Longmont, according to a news release from Boulder County Housing & Human Services. The plan includes re-developing a 1.2-acre site between 5th and 6th Streets on the east side of Coffman Street for people seeking to remain in their community as housing costs continue to rise.

The homes will be located across the street from Boulder County’s St. Vrain Community Hub, which serves thousands of community members each year with a wide range of integrated services such as food and child care assistance, parenting supports, health coverage, employment assistance, and much more. The Coffman Street redevelopment will be a part of a mixed-use building that also features 10,000 square feet of office space and a 260-space parking garage for use by the public, residents, county employees, and the private developer.

“This redevelopment is in the heart of downtown Longmont, which is an ideal site for affordable workforce housing,” said Norrie Boyd, BCHA Deputy Director and project manager for the Coffman Street proposal in a statement. “This is an opportunity to create a new, beautiful neighborhood just one block off Main Street, near shops and businesses and transportation."

Project partners include the Longmont Downtown Development Authority, a private developer, the City of Longmont, and Boulder County’s Building Services Division.

BCHA is seeking two forms of funding to help pay for the project. First, the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority helps to provide construction and capital needs funding support for affordable housing development via tax credits that investors are able to purchase. Additionally, four percent federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits would allow BCHA to offer the homes to families with earnings ranging from less than 30 percent up to 60 percent of the Area Median Income up to 60 percent AMI, the county explains. Locally, that equates to a household income of about $30,000 to $60,000.

If the funding application is approved for the Coffman Street redevelopment this year, work could begin at the site by summer 2020, with move-ins possible as early as 2021, according to the news release.

“The Boulder County Regional Housing Partnership has come together around a vision for what we know our community can look like in the years ahead,” said Frank Alexander, Director of the Boulder County Department of Housing and Human Services, in a statement. “We see a community in which our teachers, first responders, child care providers, aging parents, and our own children can live. The housing affordability crisis we face is solvable, and the five-party collaboration that is the Coffman Street redevelopment project is a great example of some of the Regional Plan’s solutions.”