Boulder County Housing Authority (“BCHA”) is soliciting submittals from qualified planning, architecture, landscape architecture, and design firms to provide planning, design, community engagement and cost estimating services for Casa de la Esperanza located at1520 South Emery Street, Longmont, CO, on two separate parcels, 131515106001 & 131515106002, approximately 5.31 Acres.
The Casa de la Esperanza (Casa) was originally built in 1993. The site includes 32 units of 3- and 4-bedroom apartment units, as well as a community building and playground. The property was funded with USDA Rural Development 514/516 federal funds which restrict the units to qualified low-income agricultural workers.
The community at Casa is made up of predominantly Spanish speaking and Latino households who work in agriculture. The community at Casa is community oriented and very tight knit. Many families who currently live at Casa have lived there for many years. Throughout the years, services and resources have been tailored to the community’s needs. The community building at Casa is a major resource for the residents at Casa and the greater Longmont Community. The community building offers different programing space, which includes a learning center with a computer/multifunctional room, office for the program staff, the Casa Robotics Academy room, community kitchen, community room, and property management offices.
The community building offers residents and the local community programs such as a homework club, tutoring services, translation services, sports clubs, art and summer programs as well as the highly popular Casa Robotics Academy. The Casa Robotics Academy has been highly successful and won serval awards, but due to the popularity of the program, the current programing space has become tight, not as functional as it could be, while also limiting students to participate in the Academy.
As of 2017, the property has experienced higher vacancy rates, which have impacted operations at Casa de la Esperanza. Currently, 14 of the 32 units are vacant. Higher vacancy rates are attributed due to several reasons, such as, incompatible wages and rent limits for the larger 3- and 4-bedroom units, seeing more individual households rather than larger families, less agricultural work due to more development in the area, effects due to a large processing plant closure, effects of the pandemic, USDA funding requires approved legal working status which excludes undocumented agricultural works, and exclusion of agriculture workers working in the cannabis industry. To remedy the high vacancy issues, BCHA has submitted a Diminished Needs Waiver request to USDA to allow qualified low-income households that are not agricultural workers to reside at Casa. BCHA will still prioritize housing at Casa for agricultural workers, but opening housing to qualified low-income families would help fill the vacant units and provide much needed 3- and 4-bedroom homes for families.
In addition to solving the operational issues, the property needs significant upgrades, rehabilitation, and there is a possibility to redevelop the property to increase density. In 2017 and 2020, BCHA ordered physical needs assessments (PNA) on the Casa property. The PNA reports described all the immediate and future work needed at Casa; work such as ADA upgrades, resurfacing of the parking lot, and unit upgrades. The property does not currently meet ADA requirements, which causes compliance issues for BCHA. In addition, the playground and community building need significant work or replacement.
BCHA is engaging in a period of due diligence to vet the potential to upgrade, rehabilitate and/or redesign affordable housing in conjunction with the stated goals for the properties as defined by Boulder County and the City of Longmont. This due diligence may include cost estimates, preliminary architectural design, environmental studies, engineering studies, financial feasibility analysis, and entitlement review, among other items.
Boulder County and the City of Longmont have specific goals related to the development of the site, and that development of the site should include, at minimum, the following:
- City Development and Design Standards and Multimodal & Comprehensive Plan
- Preservation of Affordable Housing
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