Some Residents Decide To Move, Others Near Their Breaking Point As Summit County Focuses On Immediate Housing Solutions
SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4)- As Summit County continues conversations around immediate housing solutions, some have decided to move, others are close to their breaking point.
"I get to that point where I'm just like, I'm going to sell it all and just go away because you get worn out emotionally and physically," said Elizabeth Adrian, owner of Rocky Mountain Coffee Roasters.
Adrian has lived in Frisco for more than 20 years. She went from an employee at the coffee shop to owner. She's raised a family here and feels lucky to have a home in the Peak One neighborhood- deed-restricted housing.
"That kind of weighs on me too, because I want to graduate into that grownup house or whatever. Not that I'm not grateful for what I have," she said.
With a gardening business on the side, she's trying to save money, but believes it will never be enough to qualify for a market value home; that's far from her biggest concern.
It's her employees, who are struggling to find not just affordable rentals, any long-term rentals at all.
"We've lost a couple of people that just were like, 'I'm leaving, I can't afford to live and work here anymore,' and so they've just moved on to other places."
Adrian has been working overtime to keep her business open.
"I get a little emotional but it's like, besides like the sacrificing your personal recreational time I feel like I'm starting to sacrifice my family time or being with my kids as much as I want to be because we're constantly trying to fill in the gaps here. Like as a mom, I feel just heartbroken sometimes," she said.
Frisco's mayor has lead the charge to make an emergency housing declaration. Something he says has brought more attention to the crisis and is hopeful, more solutions as well as funding.
The state has committed to providing stimulus money to address the housing crisis across the high country, $500 million to be exact. While Summit County will receive an unknown part of that, Frisco Mayor Mortensen says even all of won't be enough to fix the county's issues.
"If we suffer up here in any of our mountain towns, our recreation economy is going to suffer and that's going to go back down to Denver and the capitol and their budgeting in the future, so I'm really trying to draw those connections and show that it's not just an emergency for us," said Hunter Mortensen, Mayor of Frisco.
Summit County is on board with the emergency declaration and is working with other towns to get near-term solutions on paper by the end of June.
"I know they're hard at work and I think the big problem we're seeing is that every time we take a step, we're already behind the curve," said Mortensen.