Building Capacity to Grow Affordable Homeownership

Across the state of Colorado, rising housing costs are making it harder for longtime residents to stay in the mountain towns they call home. In Chafee and Lake counties - located in central Colorado along the spine of the Rocky Mountains - a local nonprofit is working to change that by creating opportunities that keep families from being priced out.

For Chaffee Housing Trust (CHT), creating affordable homeownership opportunities and rental housing means more than building housing. It means helping communities stay rooted, stable, and thriving. To do that, CHT builds with the community land trust model, which keeps homes affordable beyond the first buyer.

Grants and donations invested in each home remain with that home as a community asset, ensuring that the property stays affordable for future generations without requiring additional subsidy. Through this model, CHT is helping create lasting housing stability for residents and communities across the region.

Creating a Stronger Organizational Foundation

While homeownership is CHT's primary mission, the pathway looks different for everyone. CHT offers rental housing that provides a stable place to call home as people work toward buying their own home. The timeline can be long: one homeowner worked with CHT for 11 years before buying a home.

As CHT's work has grown, so too has the organization's need to grow its capacity and to create stronger internal systems. Section 4 Capacity Building grants from Enterprise, funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), are giving CHT a stronger foundation to meet increasing demand and furthering its impact.

"Starting in 2024, the opportunities for affordable housing in our region grew exponentially," said Read McCulloch, who has served as CHT's executive director for 17 years. "After years of slowly chipping away at the housing crisis, this increase in opportunities feels like a chance to make a significant impact, which also meant we needed to scale our capacity to serve the community."

With funding from a previous Section 4 grant, CHT hired a bilingual director of finance and development. The addition of this position strengthened the organization's financial management and fundraising work, allowing the executive director to redistribute responsibilities and focus on strategic growth.

With increased capacity, CHT was able to expand its development work and enter the field of affordable housing preservation. One of their most significant accomplishments has been the acquisition and conversion of two manufactured home parks, preserving 82 affordable homes for future resident-owned communities.

While these communities offer residents an opportunity to take greater ownership and build long-term stability, the growth has also brought new demands to this 20-year nonprofit.

To support its expanding portfolio, CHT is now investing Section 4 funding to strengthen its accounting infrastructure. New systems and training will allow staff to track project expenses in real time, monitor grant disbursements more accurately, improve financial reporting, and make stronger management and investment decisions.

One portion of the accounting enhancements that directly benefits homeowners and renters was the creation of a digital payment platform that allows rents and land lease payments to be accepted online.

Launching a Promotor Program

Manufactured home parks are an important source of naturally occurring affordable housing in this region, but they face increasing pressure from rising costs and gentrification. In Chaffee County alone, there are 19 manufactured home parks, with another six in neighboring Lake County.

While these communities can find it difficult to transition into resident ownership, CHT is developing a model to help residents understand their options and build the leadership necessary to pursue a resident-owned community.

As part of this effort, CHT plans to launch a promotor program. Drawing on a successful model in Lake County, the program will help engage residents - particularly the Latino community - through culturally responsive community organizing and education.

Thanks to the promotor program, CHT's first manufactured home park conversion demonstrated what is possible when residents are ready to come together and pursue ownership.

Experiences vary widely across manufactured home parks, and in some communities, residents have faced sudden rent hikes and unclear policies that contribute to mistrust and misinformation. At a community BBQ that CHT hosted to co-design a community space with the residents, it provided an opportunity to address some of this misinformation and begin establishing trust. Now there is a volunteer group of residents meeting monthly to address issues such as trash disposal, pet responsibilities, and community cohesion in general.

Each community, however, will require a different approach, and meaningful resident engagement and education are essential to building trust and creating lasting change.

By investing in both organizational capacity and community leadership, CHT is positioning itself to become a regional leader in preserving manufactured home communities as resident-owned cooperatives. The result is more than stronger organizational infrastructure. It is a stronger foundation for preserving affordable homes and helping the people who live in them remain vital members of their communities.

"This isn't just about having better systems behind the scenes," McCulloch said. "It's about making sure the people who live in these homes can stay in them and remain an important part of the community. They're our neighbors, and we want them here for the long haul."