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New affordable housing community welcomes families
By Susan Vaho and Joyce Alms-Ransford

The Rocky Mountain Housing Development Corporation (RMHDC) is proud to announce the newest housing development, Willow Green Town Homes, welcomed its first residents in October. Twelve very excited families completed the screening process and occupied the first building.

Leasing of the five buildings continues as each becomes available for occupancy, approximately every three weeks. The development is projected to be 100% occupied by the end of this year. Located at 6985 Sheridan in Arvada, Colorado, each building has eight three-bedroom town home units and four two-bedroom apartment units.

An on-site community building contains the Property Management offices, Family Services staff offices and a large community space. Willow Green has hired a new Resident Manager, Kathleen Murtaugh, who has extensive experience in the management of multifamily housing developments.

Robb Lapp is speaking to a new resident at the Willow Green site. Lapp has donated his time to the building of the site by serving on the construction team, which met weekly over this entire year at the site.

RMHDC Family Services program will be available to all residents on an as-needed basis to include referral to outside community services, as well as educational and recreational programming for both children and adults.

A computer lab with training classes will also be set-up to allow families and children to learn the skills necessary to compete in this growing technological economy.

Some of the other classes offered will be English as a Second Language (ESL) and Young Peace Makers Club, teaching conflict resolution skills to first through fifth grade students. A Boy Scout and Girl Scout troop will also be in place by spring 2006.

The focus of creating this housing is to ensure that working families with incomes as low as $18,000 up to $48,000 per year for a family of four can have a decent, safe and sanitary place to call home. At least 20 percent, approximately 12 to 14 families, who had been homeless previously, will be enrolled in a "Transitional or Transformational" housing program.

Case management services from outside agencies, such as Parent Pathways or STRIDE of Jefferson County, Colorado, will assist these formerly homeless families over a two year period to move their lives forward by garnering better employment or educational skills.

The rent on these "transitional" units is kept very low, so families can afford to reside in these new homes while they receive the skills necessary to be able to afford a higher rent upon graduation from this program.

This process to develop the site began in 2000 with the identification and purchase of the land, followed by the re-zoning and annexation into the city of Arvada. The actual building of the community, which began in December 2004, will be completed by the end December 2005.

“It takes a village of funding sources to build a community such as this,” explains RMHDC Executive Director Joyce Alms-Ransford. The total cost of creating these 60 town homes and apartments will exceed $10.5 million and includes a conventional mortgage loan as well as the use of the federal low-income housing tax credit program. Grants and loans were also received from the State of Colorado, Jefferson County, the city of Arvada and the Federal Home Loan Bank.

Rocky Mountain HDC plans to continue to either build or buy existing multifamily properties. “Our goal is to begin to develop at least one new community a year for the next three years, in order to stabilize our organizational capacity. The hallmark of our organization will always be the provision of family services,” states Alms-Ransford. In order to do this RMHDC seeks volunteers and grant dollars to stretch the capacity of the organization.

In 2006, RMHDC also will have an "AmeriCorps Promise Fellow" who will work at the Willow Green community.

For more information on RMHDC, please contact Joyce Alms-Ransford at jalmsransford@rockymountainhdc.org or at 303-561-0226. RMHDC has a Web site: www.rockymountainhdc.org, which contains a secured donation access service.

Susan Vaho is the Director of Development/Asset Management, and Joyce Alms-Ransford is the Executive Director for the Rocky Mountain Housing Development Corporation.

Published - December 2005/January 2006 - News of the Rocky Mountain Conference, United Church News

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