What does it take to attract and retain teachers and school staff in Eagle County? An important piece of the puzzle is making sure they have a place to live.

In 2020, the Eagle County School District wrote a 10-year plan to create more affordable housing options for its employees. The the target was initially 120 unitsbut this number will have to be revised this spring.

The district will reach 120 units “probably by 2029,” Sandy Farrell, the district’s chief operating officer, said in a presentation at the school board on Wednesday, October 23rd.

To keep teachers and staff around, the district needs to provide housing for 80 percent of employees, Farrell estimated.

Master Plan and objectives for employee housing

The Master Plan for employee housing is part of the district’s overall strategic plan and can be found on the district website. The original plan was created in 2016, but received an update in 2020 that aimed to achieve 120 housing units for district employees by 2030.

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“Overall, our goal is to continue to seek affordable housing and provide those opportunities to our employees,” Farrell said.

The district has been “aggressive” from the beginning in finding and acting on opportunities for more housing, Farrell said.

“The more fully-staffed, high-quality teachers we have, the better impact it has on our students and their learning environment,” Farrell said.

Within the target of 120 units, the affordability and type of housing offered were divided into three groups. Of the total fund, one-third has been designated to be affordable for renters earning at or below 80% of the Area Median Income, one-third to be affordable for those who wish to purchase their unit and earn at or below 140% of Area Median Income and the remaining third with flexible price points.

Currently, a one-person household earning $52,750 or a four-person household earning $75,350 is considered to be earning 80% of area median income in Eagle County. One hundred fifty percent of the area’s median income for a one-person household is $136,650, while a family of four is expected to earn $195,150.

The district will “probably” reach the goal of creating 120 employee housing units before the end of 10 years, Farrell said, and will need to update the master plan accordingly.

The district also should “facilitate at least as many additional housing opportunities through partnerships, programs and linkages with additional resources,” the presentation states.

School District Housing Options

The District currently offers more than 85 affordable housing units to its employees.

The district has finished building 37 apartments at Miller Flats and at the last residents moved out last Aprilwhich Farrell called “our biggest achievement that is obvious”.

Through partnerships with Habitat for Humanity, the district was also able to provide a total of 24 units for the property, 12 on Second Street in Eagle and another 12 on Grace Avenue in Gypsum.

The district already owns a handful of homes across the county — five in Gypsum, two in EagleVail and two in Minturn.

The district also holds a number of master leases, though the ultimate goal would be to move away from those by creating more district-owned units, Farrell said. The district currently leases five units at Two10 Castle Peak, two units at Kayak Crossing, five apartments at The Overlook at Eby Creek (which were empty but are now filling up), two houses at Buckhorn Valley Phase 7, three duplexes at Gracious Saviour (which is finishing construction) and an apartment in Avon.

The district previously held leases at EagleBend Apartments and Piedmont, both apartment complexes in Avon. “It was just a management issue where it was easier for our employees to rent directly from them,” Farrell said.

How to create new housing

The district has three main strategies for cultivating new housing. The first is to develop a partnership with Habitat for Humanity to get more houses in plaster and Maloit Park in Minturn. This will be discussed in a work session prior to the school board meeting in December.

The second is to update the Housing Master Plan to more accurately reflect housing achievements and needs by June 30. “When we look at our economy and what we have available here, the challenges that our teachers and our young kids that live here, in talking to Phil (Qualman, district superintendent) as well, it’s closer to 80 percent of our staff that will need housing over time, so as far as our inventory shows, we will continue to push to make that happen,” Farrell. said. “But I think a more realistic number needs to be put out there so we can keep our eyes on that goal and keep moving forward.”

The third is to secure more funding by June 30, 2026 to “maximize housing developments at Maloit Park,” Farrell said. The Maloit Park District project plans to build up to 138 housing units in Minturn.

The Maloit Park project has been in the referral comment period with the City of Minturn since last November. “But we’re very close and we hope to go before the Planning and Zoning Commission in December,” Farrell said.

Last November, voters approved the district to take $100 million in bonds to fund more employee housing, among other capital projects, but those funds won’t be enough for the Maloit Park project. Although the district has already invested funding to create the infrastructure for the subdivision, building the actual housing units will require a large additional source of funding.

In August, the district started on the Gypsum Early Learning Center and employee housing units located near Red Hill Elementary School and Gypsum Creek Middle School. The project will start with a 20-unit apartment complex, but the school board will soon see a proposal for another 20 units. The housing should be completed early by mid-2026, and bond financing approved last November will fund construction of all 40 units, Farrell said.

The district anticipates receiving 10 more homes in Gypsum through another partnership with Habitat for Humanity.

The district is involved in Timber Ridge Village project in Vail that started this month. The district’s four units should be completed on the earlier part of the seven-building, 302-unit construction project, Farrell said.

The apartment complex’s location in Vail “creates the opportunity for teachers at Red Sandstone or HPS (Homestake Peak School) or VSSA (Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy) to have a little closer access to employee housing,” Farrell said.

After local businesses purchased just 60 units, the complex’s developer, Triumph Development, changed its approach to offer more one-bedroom options rather than four-bedrooms. Triumph Development recently offered the school district the opportunity to buy more units, Farrell said, and she told them to bring the proposal to the district’s land resources committee.

Water is a concern for both Gips and Minturn projects. Both cities supply their own water and both are subject to staggering costs to improve their water treatment systems. Minturn had a moratorium on issuing new water taps from 2020, a hurdle the Maloit Park project will have to overcome. Construction on the Gypsum project is moving forward with water plans not finalized.