The League of Women Voters of Larimer County is hosting an “Affordable Housing Crisis in Larimer County” forum on April 9 starting at 7 p.m., at the Harmony Public Library, 4616 S. Shields in Fort Collins.
Vacancy rates for Larimer County have been declining steadily since 2003, when it was 16.1 percent; in the last quarter of 2012, it hit a low of 2.5 percent in Fort Collins and 1.9 percent in Loveland. As the supply of apartments goes down, rents tend to go up. So, as expected, in 2012 the average monthly rent in Larimer County reached an 11-year high of $1,009, an increase of almost 25 percent over 2004.
In Larimer County, nearly 54 percent of renting households paid more than 30 percent for housing between 2006 and 2010. Larimer County was one of 10 counties in Colorado where between 50 percent and 67 percent of renter households paid in excess of 30 percent for housing.
Panelists include Michael Easter, owner of Rocky Mountain Property Management, Stephen Kuehneman, Property Manager, Neighbor to Neighbor and Beth Rosen, Affordable Housing Coordinator for the City of Fort Collins.
The meeting is free and open to the public and will include a time for questions from the audience.