City Awarded $2.2M in Funding from the Colorado Innovative Strategies Program

Recently, the City of Fort Collins was awarded $2.2M from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs’ (DOLA) Innovative Housing Strategies Program for the Kechter Townhomes Project. This project will build 54 permanently affordable, for-sale townhomes in southeast Fort Collins.

This funding is from the program’s competitive “catalytic” round for jurisdictions that exceed program requirements, have projects ready to implement, and that have demonstration value. Statewide, 14 winning applications were awarded to:

• complete exemplary and innovative examples of affordable housing projects or programs,
• celebrate local governments who have made strong commitments to reducing barriers to affordable housing development and have urgent or time-sensitive projects ready for investment,
• and to help guide the expectations of applicants in the main round of funding.

The land for this development was a part of the City’s Land Bank program and City Council approved the sale of the parcel in November 2021. The development will be built by TWG out of Indiana and will be sold to Elevation Community Land Trust who will in turn sell homes to income-qualified buyers. Construction has begun and is expected to take about 18 months. To learn more about the City’s Land Bank Program, visit fcgov.com/socialsustainability/landbank. To learn more about buying these homes, visit: elevationclt.org.

“The City is one of many partners required to make affordable homeownership a reality for some residents in our community,” said Sue Beck-Ferkiss, the City’s Social Policy and Housing Programs Manager.

“We appreciate the State’s recognition of the project’s collaborative structure and beyond that, we appreciate the recognition of the City’s policy work in the affordable housing arena. There’s more to come”.

Visit cdola.colorado.gov/1271 to learn more about the state’s Innovative Affordable Housing Strategies Program.