Voters in a growing school district in northern Colorado will be tasked in November with deciding on a $100 million bond that will mostly go for the construction of new employee housing.
Like many other parts of the state, Eagle County has seen a substantial increase in housing costs in the last several years, large enough to make it difficult to recruit new schoolteachers and other public employees for work.
In response, members of the Eagle County School District’s Board of Education placed on the November ballot a proposed $100 million bond to be used for new housing construction.
“The lack of affordable housing really keeps us from filling the positions that we have vacant in our organization,” District Superintendent Philip Qualman recently commented to the Vail Daily newspaper, noting that the district currently has at least one hundred openings, representing 10% of its staff.
The bond proposal does not represent the district’s first foray into the housing world: it earlier opened a 37-unit apartment complex called Miller Flats, which has since been flooded with applicants.
That project has been funded using 30-year certificates of participation.
Besides being used to target new housing construction, the $100 million bond is expected to fund safety and security upgrades at the district’s nearly two dozen elementary, middle, and high schools.
The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Eagle County, according to the site RentData. org, is currently slightly over $1,300. Ten years ago, the average stood at just under $950.
In 2020, the district approved a master plan calling for the construction of at least 120 new housing units for employees by the end of the decade.
By Garry Boulard
