FORT LUPTON, Colo. — Colorado’s affordable housing crisis extends to all parts of the state. Far from the ski resorts and mountain communities that everyone knows are expensive, towns in Weld County are looking for solutions to similar problems.
In a growing town of 9,000, finding a place to call home in Fort Lupton isn’t always easy.
"Coming out of a divorce and not having anywhere to live and having children, unsure of where I was going to go. I don’t make a whole lot," said Anna Labadie, a resident of the new Sagebrush affordable housing complex in Fort Lupton.
Labadie was on the verge of homelessness as she cared for her three kids while balancing her job as a personal trainer. In Fort Lupton, new affordable housing hadn’t been built in more than 15 years.
"It was very difficult," Labadie said. "Even the towns around here, there wasn’t a whole lot to pick from and what there was, I couldn’t afford. I couldn’t afford any of it. I certainly couldn’t afford anything this nice."
Labadie works here, so she wants to live here. When the town opened more than 70 affordable apartments a couple of months ago, they all filled up immediately.
Far from the Aspens and Vails of the world that steal the headlines about affordable housing needs, towns like Fort Lupton know it’s a problem too.
"It’s critical," Mayor Zo Stieber-Hubbard said. "We need this. There just wasn’t a place to live."
On Tuesday, they celebrated giving the town a place where the people who work there can actually afford to live.
"In Denver as you know, the costs are skyrocketing," said Jim Weglarz, Vice President of Development for The Michaels Organization, which manages the property. "People need to live in smaller towns that don’t have product like this."
As Denver becomes so expensive, more and more people are moving out of the city and to places like northern Colorado, which continues to grow at a rapid speed. Buildings like this help make sure more people can afford it.
"It gives me independence and somewhere to start with me and my kids to have a safe place to live, grow my career, and work my way up from the bottom," Labadie said.
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