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Housing director Tom McCabe
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Mick Ireland
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ASPEN — The area's chief housing officer on Wednesday threw cold water on a recent proposal to allow locals to make extra money on price-controlled housing.
Tom McCabe, director of the Aspen/Pitkin County Housing Authority, said he is worried that the plan would hurt local government's ability to prevent the conversion of some 224 housing units into free-market condominiums.
McCabe said the entire stock of condos and apartments at Centennial and at the Castle Ridge complex near Aspen Valley Hospital are due to revert to free-market status in the future.
At Centennial, according to McCabe and housing board member Ron Erickson, the conversion is to take place 21 years after the death of the last member of the Pitkin County Board of Commissioners to sign off on the Centennial project in the 1980s.
At Castle Ridge, the conversion is to take place after a future deadline that McCabe was not sure of, but which he said is locked into the management contract with the out-of-state corporation that built and owns the complex.
Together, he said, that amounts to 224 units out of the affordable housing mix, "which we either have to buy back or lose."
"It would be a big number," he said, explaining that local governments are still not sure how to prevent the units from going onto the free market.
On a different point, McCabe argued that Semrau's projections for the city's affordable housing fund, which is fed by a real estate transfer tax, may not be realistic.
"I wish we were taking in $12 to $16 million a year," he said, referring to Semrau's estimate of the income from the transfer tax.
McCabe said the tax has taken in an average of $3.5 million per year over 14 years, beginning at about $1 million per year in the 1990s. He said that only in the last couple of years has the annual income risen to anywhere near what Semrau claims.
"We might not have even reached $12 million yet," McCabe said, explaining that projections for 2006 fall short of that amount.
He conceded that Semrau's plan is based on projections over the next seven years at current collection levels, which count on continued skyrocketing real estate prices for homes in Aspen and Pitkin County.
Tom McCabe, director of the Aspen/Pitkin County Housing Authority, said he is worried that the plan would hurt local government's ability to prevent the conversion of some 224 housing units into free-market condominiums.
McCabe said the entire stock of condos and apartments at Centennial and at the Castle Ridge complex near Aspen Valley Hospital are due to revert to free-market status in the future.
At Centennial, according to McCabe and housing board member Ron Erickson, the conversion is to take place 21 years after the death of the last member of the Pitkin County Board of Commissioners to sign off on the Centennial project in the 1980s.
At Castle Ridge, the conversion is to take place after a future deadline that McCabe was not sure of, but which he said is locked into the management contract with the out-of-state corporation that built and owns the complex.
Together, he said, that amounts to 224 units out of the affordable housing mix, "which we either have to buy back or lose."
"It would be a big number," he said, explaining that local governments are still not sure how to prevent the units from going onto the free market.
On a different point, McCabe argued that Semrau's projections for the city's affordable housing fund, which is fed by a real estate transfer tax, may not be realistic.
"I wish we were taking in $12 to $16 million a year," he said, referring to Semrau's estimate of the income from the transfer tax.
McCabe said the tax has taken in an average of $3.5 million per year over 14 years, beginning at about $1 million per year in the 1990s. He said that only in the last couple of years has the annual income risen to anywhere near what Semrau claims.
"We might not have even reached $12 million yet," McCabe said, explaining that projections for 2006 fall short of that amount.
He conceded that Semrau's plan is based on projections over the next seven years at current collection levels, which count on continued skyrocketing real estate prices for homes in Aspen and Pitkin County.
But, he said of the current levels, "Today, I think, is based on the hot [real estate] market. One would think it won't sustain itself at that level."
<b>Ireland chimes in</b>
Also weighing in on Semrau's plan, for the second day in a row, was mayoral candidate and former Pitkin County Commissioner Mick Ireland, who agreed with McCabe and said, "Booms don't last forever - the housing shortage will continue beyond the duration of the current speculative frenzy."
Ireland offered his own ideas for using the city's housing fund, which stands near $37 million and could grow to $103 million by 2014.
Calling Semrau's ideas "a slush fund for election year promises" and a "tax-funded, mini-Powerball scheme" designed to lure voter support, Ireland claimed that a $1 million "resident occupied" home would appreciate to $2 million "in a generation" under the proposed new rules.
Ireland suggested better uses for the money would be:
• a reserve fund to create more affordable housing should the real estate transfer tax expire or the housing boom cool down;
• additional rental housing units he said are "badly needed" in the local housing inventory;
• to prevent the conversion of Centennial and Castle Ridge to free-market;
• retrofit existing units with solar and other energy-saving technologies, reducing the city's overall "carbon footprint" as well as utility bills for local workers;
• create housing for aging workers who want to stay in Aspen but won't need their current units once they retire.
<b>Ireland chimes in</b>
Also weighing in on Semrau's plan, for the second day in a row, was mayoral candidate and former Pitkin County Commissioner Mick Ireland, who agreed with McCabe and said, "Booms don't last forever - the housing shortage will continue beyond the duration of the current speculative frenzy."
Ireland offered his own ideas for using the city's housing fund, which stands near $37 million and could grow to $103 million by 2014.
Calling Semrau's ideas "a slush fund for election year promises" and a "tax-funded, mini-Powerball scheme" designed to lure voter support, Ireland claimed that a $1 million "resident occupied" home would appreciate to $2 million "in a generation" under the proposed new rules.
Ireland suggested better uses for the money would be:
• a reserve fund to create more affordable housing should the real estate transfer tax expire or the housing boom cool down;
• additional rental housing units he said are "badly needed" in the local housing inventory;
• to prevent the conversion of Centennial and Castle Ridge to free-market;
• retrofit existing units with solar and other energy-saving technologies, reducing the city's overall "carbon footprint" as well as utility bills for local workers;
• create housing for aging workers who want to stay in Aspen but won't need their current units once they retire.
<b>Torre concurs</b>
The other declared mayoral candidate, Councilman Torre, said he had only "quickly" reviewed Semrau's proposal and felt that it is "inappropriate at this time."
He said that under Semrau's plan, the city's housing fund would be depleted far more quickly than under the existing rules, which would jeopardize local government's ability to build or otherwise create new affordable housing for local workers.
And, he said, "even people I've talked to who are in employee housing don't think it's necessary, because they aren't using it to make money, just to get in the door."
John Colson's e-mail address is jcolson@aspentimes.com
The other declared mayoral candidate, Councilman Torre, said he had only "quickly" reviewed Semrau's proposal and felt that it is "inappropriate at this time."
He said that under Semrau's plan, the city's housing fund would be depleted far more quickly than under the existing rules, which would jeopardize local government's ability to build or otherwise create new affordable housing for local workers.
And, he said, "even people I've talked to who are in employee housing don't think it's necessary, because they aren't using it to make money, just to get in the door."
John Colson's e-mail address is jcolson@aspentimes.com
