On Tuesday, Routt County Commissioners and Steamboat Springs City Council members interviewed candidates seeking to fill five seats on the board of the Yampa Valley Housing Authority.

The 15-member board oversees YVHA, which was established through an intergovernmental agreement between the county and city in 2003.

Members of the housing authority board include one member of the Board of County Commissioners and one City Council member, with the rest appointed jointly by the commissioners and the council members.

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Other than council members and county commissioners, terms for appointed board members range from 1-3 years.

The housing authority’s jurisdiction serves all residents living within the Steamboat Springs Rural Fire District, which includes the city and stretches west toward Milner — but does not include the town — and south to Catamount without including Stagecoach or Oak Creek. Funding is collected through a 1-mill tax levied across its territory.

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Hayden and Craig have their own housing authorities. Oak Creek is currently in the process of creating a housing assessment with plans to establish its own authority in the future.

Eleven candidates vying for the five available board positions took turns answering questions from the commissioners and council members Amy Dickson, Steve Muntean and Michael Buccino.

The candidates offered a range of backgrounds and demographics, from Dallas Elmore, a five-year resident who works as a Craig Hotshot and a ski patroller for the Steamboat Resort, to longtime resident Kathi Meyer, a former City Council member who has served on the YVHA board for 20 years.

The candidates answered questions about their backgrounds and how they saw their qualifications working to benefit the housing authority’s mission to implement “appropriate housing solutions for local workers, qualified residents and their families.”

Most candidates were also queried over their assessment of the housing authority and city’s failed effort to develop more than 2,000 affordable housing units by 2042 at Brown Ranch.

“I’m a good representative of the 58% of people who voted against it,” said David Barnes about the failed annexation measure put to voters in March.

“Not because we are against affordable housing, but because we are against development with so many unknowns,” added Barnes, whose 32 years of business experience includes building and managing more than 80 apartments and 14 commercial properties.

Asked how she would promote the longevity of the housing authority, Jessica Valand, a 20-year public administration veteran and a former director of workforce housing in Northwest Colorado, said she intended to focus on ensuring viable housing options for working families.

“I don’t know that it’s always in the best interest for board members to have a strong advocacy position to hold outside of advocating for the mission of that organization,” she said.

With a resume that includes service on more than a dozen boards and commissions in Routt County, Mark Halvorson, who owns Snow County Construction Inc., said he was “amazed” at how many projects the housing authority has in the works and that a range of projects should be considered.

“I don’t think it’s been delved into deep enough. It’s not easy by any ways or means and it’s not one thing but multiple things,” he added.

Maddie Ward graduated from Colorado Mountain College in 2020 and is currently employed by the Routt County Assessor’s Office as an appraiser. She said she believed her role on the board would help lend a voice for members of her generation who are feeling the impacts of the local housing crisis.

“I think that plays a role because I see friends and family struggle in the housing market, especially in Routt County,” said Ward.

The average monthly rent in Steamboat today is roughly $2,400, according to data compiled by CoStar Group, a real estate analytics firm. In 2013, average rent in the city was $726.

According to data compiled by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard, 31.3% of the population in Routt and Moffatt counties spends more than 30% of their income on rent.

“You have people in generations above us who say, ‘Oh you just aren’t working hard enough, or you need to get a different job or degree’ — that is not the case a lot of times here and I think it gets misrepresented,” added Ward.

Council members and county commissioners discussed what criteria they felt should guide their five selections following the candidates’ interviews and considered weighing qualifications and applicability against past housing board experience and experience dealing with housing insecurity.

“When you look at the community and the trust level with the housing authority, if we don’t make major shifts in the board make-up, what does that say to the community?” asked Muntean.

“I like succession, I like new blood, and I think people can learn stuff,” he added.

In the end, the elected officials settled on selecting two incumbents, Meyer and Cole Hewitt, who has served on the housing authority’s board for more than eight years.

Ward and Valand were also selected, before the officials went back and forth between choosing Halvorson or Barnes to fill the remaining two-year seat.

Both candidates, the officials said, would likely serve to “shake up” the board by providing a different perspective, but Halvorson was ultimately chosen due to his construction experience and ability to keep an eye on costs and work with potential developers.

The decision made Tuesday is only a resolution. The selections will be confirmed through individual votes held by City Council members and County Commissioners in the coming weeks.