The Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) and Pagosa Springs Town Council recently each approved the adoption of the 2025 Archuleta County regional housing needs assessment (HNA).
The assessment is a collaborative effort between the county, Town of Pagosa Springs and Pagosa Springs Community Development Corporation (PSCDC), who worked with two firms, ECOnorthwest and Western Spaces.
The BoCC and town council were briefed on the matter during a joint work session held by the two entities on Monday, April 14.
Pagosa Springs Development Director James Dickhoff explained the assessment is “not a short document,” being more than 100 pages long, and that an executive summary of the assessment was provided for the BoCC and council.
He also explained that Archuleta County Development Director Pamela Flowers has applied for a second More Housing Now grant, which would help fund the next step of having an action plan developed, “which is required by the state now.”
Western Spaces founder Sarah McClain provided the council members and commissioners with results of the HNA.
McClain noted the HNA being a collaborative effort helps “develop your housing story” by understanding what is going on in the community in terms of household size and makeup.
She noted the HNA also looks at economic trends in the community to see where people are moving in relation to jobs.
It is “one of the few times you get to really get a full inventory of your built housing units,” McClain added, noting the HNA looks at all housing units, occupied or not.
Other considerations in the HNA include market trends, available resources in the community and housing problems such as residents who are being cost-burdened by their housing payments.
McClain explained that SB24-174 now requires a community the size of Archuleta County to perform a HNA, and that the study taking place in Archuleta County is one of the first happening in the state, noting the community is “sort of leading the way.”
She explained that the biggest purpose for doing an HNA is to “access funding” while planning for change and future needs of the community in order to “serve the full spectrum of housing and how that can really benefit your community.”
She explained the assessment included more than 600 resident responses to a survey, along with 96 employer responses and stakeholder engagement.
She noted that through those responses what was discovered is that the “region is at a crossroads” with balancing local identity with tourism, in-migration and investment pressures.
She noted those were trends expedited by the COVID-19 pandemic, but those trends were already being seen.
“Rising housing costs are really reshaping who can live here,” McClain added, explaining that “affordability is slipping for year-round residents.”
She also mentioned that the local workforce is “feeling the squeeze,” according to both employer and employee responses, even at the middle income levels.
She went on to explain that funding available for housing projects is tied to area median income (AMI) levels, and that the 100 percent AMI level for a two-income household in Archuleta County was $75,400 in 2024. That translates to an affordable rent price of $1,890 and a purchase price of $238,200.
According to data presented by McClain, 21 percent of Archuleta County residents are in the 51 to 80 percent AMI range, 9 percent are in the 100 to 120 percent range, 11 percent are in the 81 to 100 percent range and 15 percent are in the 120 to 160 percent range, with others falling below and above those ranges.
The data also showed that 56 percent of renters are cost-burdened, meaning they are paying more than 30 percent of their household income on housing, and 37 percent of owners are cost-burdened.
In regard to the AMI range above 100 percent, McClain stated, “There is still need for subsidy in that range, but less so” as individuals in that range are starting to get into market rates.
McClain presented a quote from the survey response with a resident claiming they are prequalified for a $500,000 mortgage with a strong down payment and can “barely find anything livable at that price.”
According to McClain’s presentation, the median home sale price in Archuleta County in 2020 was $354,000, which increased by 56 percent to $553,500 in 2025.
She explained that the total income needed to purchase a home in 2025 in the county is $150,800, or 200 percent of AMI levels, which translates to an average of 2.9 full-time wages needed.
McClain presented another quote from the resident survey that stated, “If my rent was actually affordable I could get ahead and save for a down payment. But every time we build savings, we have to dip into them again just to get by.”
She then presented data indicating that average rent for a two-bedroom unit in the county is listed at $3,150 per month, which translates to needing an income of 167 percent of the AMI.
She noted that 2.4 average wages are needed in order for residents to be able to rent two- and three-bedroom units in the community.
McClain also highlighted some “positive trends” in the community, noting there are already 173 affordable housing units developed, with local employers actively engaging in providing housing support.
She mentioned some “concerning trends” being that home prices “are out of reach for most locals” and require “a fairly high income.”
She also noted that entry-level homes under $400,000 are “nearly gone” as new development trends are targeting higher price points.
Rental vacancy is “critically low” at .5 percent, she explained, noting 5 percent as a “healthy benchmark” in that category.
McClain mentioned that employers are concerned about housing availability as it is affecting their ability to run successful businesses.
She referenced one response that indicated a business owner sold their business because retaining employees due to housing issues was “too taxing.”
McClain then indicated that the community needs a total of 362 units to “catch up to where you’re at now.”
While forecasting the community’s future needs with consideration of employees retiring and keeping up with job growth in the community, “the total keep up is 954 units” over a 10-year period, McClain explained.
She then went on to explain that the HNA will help the community receive a rural resort designation, which would allow affordable housing projects to receive funding for higher AMI levels.
She also noted that developers can use the HNA extensively to help guide where the needs are in the community.
Council member Gary Williams commented that he has worked with Habitat for Humanity and that the PSCDC’s current housing projects are resulting in home prices ranging from $328,000 to $400,000.
“You can’t build a house for less than $300 a square foot,” he added, noting the PSCDC has had land donated and fees subsidized.
Williams also commented on the rural resort designation, noting it raises the AMI considerably, “but it doesn’t seem like it really helps us with the housing problem.”
McClain explained that the designation helps obtain funding to go toward housing projects aimed at higher AMI levels.
“So we can build more expensive houses,” Williams said.
Pagosa Springs Mayor Shari Pierce explained the HNA was on the agenda for town council to approve on April 15, inquiring when it needed to be approved in order to prevent any delays in getting grant funding or receiving the rural resort designation.
Pierce indicated she would not be ready to vote on the matter as the council had only recently received the HNA and she needed more time to go through the data.
Dickhoff explained that the “sooner the better” so the community could petition for higher AMIs, but noted that a decision by the May 6 meeting would not significantly impact the process.
Pierce commented that she was appreciative of the work and information being provided, “but I don’t approve our budgets based on the summaries that are provided to us. I like to look at the data, so I need more time.”
Council member Matt DeGuise commented that the PSCDC’s and Habitat for Humanity’s work is “great,” but that based on the HNA results, “diversifying the types of housing we’re building is key based on what this report is showing us,” adding that the community will for those types of projects is not always there.
“Something has to give in order for us to get housing,” council member Madeline Bergon stated.
PSCDC Executive Director Emily Lashbrooke provided more information on the significance of the rural resort designation, explaining that “we can go after bigger grant money” with that designation.
Instead of being capped at $60,000 per household, projects could go up to $75,000 per household with funding received from Proposition 123, “and actually achieve building that affordable product. That’s the benefit of the rural resort designation.”
Commissioner Veronica Medina also expressed concern over feeling comfortable enough to make a decision on the matter on April 15, noting she was “not prepared” to make a decision.
BoCC approval
At a regular meeting on April 15, the BoCC unanimously approved adopting the HNA.
Before voting on the matter, Commissioner Warren Brown stated,“it’s important that we are able to bring a decision forward today and open another pathway to keep going and to not delay any potential funding that we might receive.”
McClain explained that adopting the HNA does not require the community to build any units, “ but it does enable you to go to the next step, which would be the strategy and action plan.”
Town council approval
The town council approved the adoption of the assessment at its April 15 meeting, with Pierce opposing the adoption of the assessment at that time.
Pierce reiterated that she did not feel comfortable approving a document that she had not yet fully taken in.
Williams asked if “there was any downside” to approving the document at the meeting, with Dickhoff responding that the data in the report “is the data. It’s not going to change if the council has questions” about it.
He replied, “I don’t think there’s a downside.”
The data, he explained, is important to make both the town and county meet new requirements for state housing grant funding.
Council member Brooks Lindner suggested, “We as a council can really leverage this document with developers coming in … and we can target certain AMIs.”
Dickhoff added that the document would also help the town “petition the state to allow us to use higher AMIs,” suggesting that the assessment shows a significant need in the community for housing — both rental and ownership models — for those in the higher AMI ranges.
He said that Proposition 123 funding from the state limits the town to 60 percent AMI or below when it applies for grants for “rental projects … and 100 percent AMI for ownership projects,” and that the new assessment would justify the town raising its caps to higher AMIs.
This housing need has been described as “the missing middle,” with percent of the assessment’s respondents in the 80 to 160 percent AMI range (earning $52,800 to $105,600 per year for an individual).
Council member Mat deGraaf expressed that he was excited to approve the document, saying, “We have a need [for housing] and the need continues to grow. However, we also have a disparity … the wage to survive in this town is going up and what people are making is not, and that gap continues to grow.”
He added, “It hurts my heart that more and more people cannot live here. It doesn’t matter if they have family here or have been here forever or whatever, that chasm is growing … and that door is closing for so many people, and what does that say about the diversity of our community?”
