{"id":2445640,"date":"2019-06-23T16:08:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-23T22:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/over-dozen-people-interested-in-serving-on-aspens-housing-board\/"},"modified":"2019-06-23T16:08:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-23T22:08:00","slug":"over-dozen-people-interested-in-serving-on-aspens-housing-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/over-dozen-people-interested-in-serving-on-aspens-housing-board\/","title":{"rendered":"Over dozen people interested in serving on Aspen\u2019s housing board"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As the all-citizen board that oversees the local affordable housing program changes over to have elected officials serve on it later this summer, over a dozen people have so far applied to be part of the new makeup.<\/p>\n

Today is the deadline to apply for the Aspen-Pitkin County Housing Authority Board<\/a>, which sets policy over a program that has around 3,000 deed-restricted units and real estate holdings, valued at over a $3 billion.<\/p>\n

Three of the current board members have applied, or intend to apply, for the new governing body that is expected to convene in August.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too important not to,\u201d board member Carson Schmitz said. \u201cThere are so many complex issues \u2026 the health of the system will be determined by what we do today.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the largest issues facing the program, which was established in the late 1970s and early \u201980s, is the aging inventory of units and sweeping deficits<\/a> in the capital reserves of most homeowners associations.<\/p>\n

In recent years, elected officials from Pitkin County and the city of Aspen haven\u2019t been able to agree on how that multi-million dollar problem<\/a> should be addressed.<\/p>\n

Rather than remain at a stalemate, Pitkin County commissioners and Aspen City Council decided that serving on the board where votes are final will expedite solutions.<\/p>\n

The new board<\/a> will consist of an elected official from the city and the county, along with three volunteer citizens.<\/p>\n

As it is now, the APCHA board makes recommendations, which then have to be reviewed and approved by both the county and city.<\/p>\n

There has been some controversy between the elected bodies and the citizen board in recent months, mostly related to a lack of communication.<\/p>\n

Most APCHA board members feel that elected officials haven\u2019t involved them in the process and have felt ignored as changes were being made to the intergovernmental agreement between the city and county, which oversee APCHA.<\/p>\n

Ron Erickson, who resigned earlier this month as the APCHA board chair, said the politics have been distracting and unfair to the citizens who volunteer their time to make the program better.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said the hell with it,\u201d he said, adding that he doesn\u2019t support elected officials on the board. \u201cI think we had a great housing board; they don\u2019t feel wanted or needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erickson said while he normally encourages people to volunteer to serve on the community\u2019s boards and commissions, he isn\u2019t going out of his way to recommend the APCHA board.<\/p>\n

Valerie Forbes, who currently serves as treasurer for the board, said last week she doesn\u2019t plan on applying.<\/p>\n

She said the board has largely been left out of the discussion on what the city\u2019s plans are for affordable housing, and elected officials haven\u2019t acknowledged the work that they\u2019ve done.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t feel like I\u2019m doing any good,\u201d she said, adding that a lot of progress has been made that elected officials aren\u2019t aware of. \u201cIt\u2019s been a tough time to be on the board.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rick Head, who now serves as the board chair, said last week he plans on applying.<\/p>\n

\u201cI care about housing, it\u2019s important to the community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Fellow board member John Ward also plans on applying for the new board.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a big asset,\u201d he said of the program. \u201cI think this ski town is a unique ski town because people who work here live here and that\u2019s because of the program.\u201d<\/p>\n

APCHA board member Becky Gilbert said she doesn\u2019t plan on serving on the housing board again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m too busy right now and it was stressful enough being on this board,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a hard board to serve on \u2026 there\u2019s a whole new set of rules for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Applications are being taken until end of the day. Interested applicants, who must reside in Pitkin County, can apply online at http:\/\/www.pitkincounty.com\/citizenboards<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Commissioners and council members will interview applicants on July 9.<\/p>\n

csackariason@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the all-citizen board that oversees the local affordable housing program changes over to have elected officials serve on it later this summer, over a dozen people have so far applied to be part of the new makeup. Today is the deadline to apply for the Aspen-Pitkin County Housing Authority Board, which sets policy over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2445640","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-20 04:07:15","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2445640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2445640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2445640\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2445640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2445640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2445640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}