A trust fund set up in rapidly-growing Lafayette, Colorado for the construction of affordable housing may need more money.
That’s the conclusion of city officials who are proposing an increase in local residential development fees to keep the fund viable.
Established in late 2015, those fees, at 30 cents per square foot for new home construction, have generated just over $220,000 in revenue.
But Lafayette, Boulder County, and Boulder County Housing Authority officials say more money is needed to fund the construction of hoped-for 400 new affordable residential units, with another 100 market-rate units also planned.
A new proposal, to be reviewed by the Lafayette City Council, would increase those fees to 60 cents per square foot, with the idea that the city could easily collect nearly $600,000 in revenue in the next two years.
With the fees that have been collected so far, the City of Lafayette has purchased some 24 acres for the Boulder County Housing Authority to develop new housing. The purchase price for that land was $3.4 million, of which Lafayette made a down payment of $145,000, with $3.3 million still owed.
By Garry Boulard