Global Awards News

LONDON: Less than a year ago, contractors poured the first foundation of what is now The Village at San Juan, an innovative housing development that blends generations and offers vulnerable adults critical support services.

Friday, the Village’s partners stood in front of newly completed one- and two-bedroom homes and, with the snip of a blue ribbon, officially opened the development.

“September 23 of last year, they were pouring the first foundation and you see what we have here now, less than a year later,” Carlton Mason, executive director of CASA of the 7th Judicial District, said. CASA provides advocacy for children going through the court system for civil dependency and neglect case. It also operates a host of programs to support youth aging out of foster care — including, since 2018, a limited number of homes with wrap-around support services.

The Village is a 45-unit development, with 15 homes for young people and 15 for adults 62 and older who are at risk of becoming homeless. Rents are no more than 30% of the tenant’s income, and as low as zero for those who do not have work. The remaining units can be rented out on the market, for going rates, and that income will help continue to fund the supportive housing component.

CASA teamed up with Region 10 Area Agency on Aging, Hilltop Family Resources, and Montrose County Housing Authority, and had support from the City of Montrose as well. Several local contractors, headed by Stryker & Company, put the sweat equity in, creating what the late Doug Macfarlane designed. The project received state and federal funding to the tune of $11 million; CASA also raised capital for the project.

The latest development is the third one CASA has spearheaded — and the largest — but different from 1st Place on Second Street in Montrose and 1st Place on Palmer in Delta, which provide supportive housing for young adults. Not only will the Village help vulnerable populations overcome significant housing hurdles and give them stability that is crucial for general success, but it will also put older and younger people in close contact with each other, with the idea that each can learn from the other and become neighbors who forge a true community.

“Supportive housing includes access to case management, mental health services, social support systems and an opportunity to learn and incorporate important life skills,” Mason said. “That’s the responsibility of our organization and Hilltop, who is a major partner with us on this to provide those services to the seniors.”

Hilltop is providing the case management services to the Village’s older tenants, who Region 10 AAA helped screen. This placement process is ongoing. The Village’s younger residents will start moving in once the certificate of occupancy is secured, which is expected in the next few weeks.

“This has been a dream for a long, long time,” said Eva Veitch, Region 10 AAA director. She recounted the long-held goals of a past local housing coalition and her conversations with Sue Hansen, now a Montrose County commissioner. “Sue and I used to say ‘When are we going to be able to move the needle?’ Guess what, baby? We moved the needle!” Veitch declared to cheers.

“To bring older adults and youth aging out of foster care together has not been done in Colorado. We don’t think it’s been done very many times. I have rose-colored glasses … This is an amazing project. The community has really embraced this.”

She meant in tangible ways, too. Donated artwork hangs on the walls of units and the Village’s community center. Curtains and quilts, all handmade by Montrose’s three quilt guilds, grace every unit. There are dishes in the cupboards and there is furniture.

“All of this was made possible by community members who care about this as much we do,” Veitch said.

A quick peek into one of the finished units revealed one of the bright, hand-pieced quilts on the provided bed. Members of Friendship Quilters, Columbine Quilters and San Juan Quilters guilds volunteered to make it and quilts like it, with CASA staff members even pitching in with fabric-cutting.

Such touches are meaningful, because some of the young people who will be moving in haven’t even owned so much as their own blanket before, CASA board member Jim Haugsness noted.

“It’s a big, big wow,” CASA board member Phoebe Benizger said, of the quilt guilds’ work. “We really want, when people move in, that they’re not moving into a house, they’re moving into a home. We want it to feel welcoming …. And a place they feel they can immediately belong to.”

Even people incarcerated contributed to the Village; Mason said men serving prison sentences built the cabinets in each kitchen. Altrusa International and the Montrose Christian Church filled those cabinets with supplies, while community-based contractors and suppliers also invested.

“The City of Montrose is very proud to have been involved in this project. We’re very proud of it and what it’s going to do,” City Councilor Judy Ann Files said, in remarks soon echoed by fellow Councilor Doug Glaspell. “We know it’s going to become another one of those gems that Montrose has that other communities don’t have.”

That type of support is part of forces that moved the needle. “One of the first questions you get asked when you start a project like this is: Do you have the support of your local governments? And we can say we honestly did and are very appreciative of it,” Mason said.

Representatives of agencies that provided some of the funding noticed. United States Sen. Michael Bennet secured $2.5 million in congressionally directed spending for the project and on Friday, a staff member from his office read out a letter of congratulations on the project’s completion.

Andrew Atchley, housing development manager for the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, was no stranger to Montrose or CASA’s housing efforts. He was with the state when 1st Place on Second Street was launched in 2018, too.

“To see that project and see this project, and the leaps and bounds, and lessons learned, that CASA and Carlton and everyone else has gone through has been amazing,” Atchley said Friday.

The state awarded about 30 project-based vouchers and $80,000 a year toward supportive services — not to mention a $5.5 million Transformational Affordable Housing Grant. “We had about $130 million to give away, and we got 550 (million) in requests. So, it’s kind of a testament to the trust that we have in Carlton and CASA to do this amazing, important work. We’re just really honored to be a partner in it,” Atchley said.

Mason also spoke of the financial investment.

“Over 11 million dollars were brought into this community and spent on this project and reinvested into this community. I know there are at times concern regarding the amount of taxpayer money that is spent, but I’ll tell you where all that taxpayer money went, and that’s back in the pockets of our citizens here in this community. I can’t think of a better place and in the end of it, we’ve got all these homes and we’re addressing a huge need within our community,” he said.

“I’ve heard just about every question you can imagine regarding this community. And I don’t wear rose-colored glasses … but I think it’s good sometimes to just take a step back and think about your own journey. What investment was made on your behalf? …. We have become who we are largely due to those who invested in our past and opened our door to the future. Today we’re saying to our kids, our nieces, our nephews, maybe our grandchildren: You are valuable. We are saying to our elderly parents and grandparents: You are worthy of our time and our resources.

“We are neighbors. And I believe we are family.”