Steamboat Springs City Council members clashed Tuesday over who should be held responsible for parking shortages and maintenance complaints at Yampa Valley Housing Authority properties, after a tenant described living conditions at Alpenglow Village as “horrible” and “embarrassing.”

Council spent a half-hour discussing complaints from tenants of YVHA-developed properties, including Alpenglow Village and Sunlight Crossing, both of which have become flashpoints for the city’s broader debate over housing oversight and density.

“I have nowhere to park,” Alpenglow resident Laura Brooke Armstrong told council during public comment. “If you haven’t heard this, you’re not paying attention.”

Armstrong, who described herself as a working parent living in a three-bedroom unit at market rate, said the property provides only one parking space per apartment, forcing her son to leave his car overnight at nearby Safeway. 

“He called today and said, ‘Mom, I think I got towed,'” she said. “I said, ‘Yeah, you probably did.'”

Beyond parking, Armstrong noted what she called “years” of neglect at the building. 

“The front stairway never gets cleaned,” she said. “There’s not the staff. It’s horrible … I don’t invite people over to my house. I’m embarrassed. Help us.”

Her plea came as part of a growing list of tenant concerns about cleanliness, maintenance and parking constraints at several of YVHA’s income-restricted and workforce housing developments — issues that prompted multiple council members to demand a more direct response from the authority.

Council splits on accountability

Longtime local and former council president Walter Magill spoke during the public comment period following Armstrong, describing YVHA’s projects as “poorly managed federal housing” that fail to meet local expectations despite being billed as community assets.

“What about this authority is based in Yampa Valley? If you ask my opinion … very little, besides the board of directors,” he said. “They put up the buildings with federal funds, they don’t have any preferences for people who live in Routt County because it’s federal housing, so we’re not tracking the zip codes of people that are moving into these units.”

Magill added that he has requested police records to determine whether calls for service are increasing at YVHA-managed complexes. 

“People think by saying this that I’m against affordable housing,” he said. “No, I’m against poorly managed federal housing projects being built in Steamboat under the guise of Yampa Valley housing.”

Magill’s critique drew measured pushback from several councilors who argued that the city itself bears responsibility for the parking crunch because its development code allows reduced parking requirements for affordable complexes.

“When we approve a development, we give credit because it’s affordable housing,” said Councilor John Agosta, who served on the planning commission prior to his election to council last month. “The bottom line is, when we’re building these complexes, we’re building them to code, and it’s obvious that the code isn’t keeping up with what the community needs. 

“So you want YVHA to come here and stand in front of us, and they’re going to say, ‘We built it to code,'” he added. 

Councilors Dave Barnes and Bryan Swintek rejected that framing, suggesting the problem extended beyond building codes to the housing authority’s responsiveness and operational oversight.

“I would suggest that with tonight’s comments on Alpenglow, that it’s just speaking to the overall problem with their properties,” said Barnes, a frequent critic of YVHA leadership and operations. 

Swintek said council needs to require YVHA to attend an upcoming meeting in person to answer for mounting complaints. 

“The problem isn’t parking enforcement, the problem is lack of parking,” said Swintek. “We need the housing authority to come here … we need them to answer this.”

Resident’s plea intensifies pressure on YVHA

City Manager Tom Leeson told council he had shared previously iterated concerns about parking at Sunlight Crossing with YVHA Executive Director Jason Peasley, who told Leeson he would contact the property’s management company to learn more, but that he was unaware of specifics regarding the parking issues. 

Leeson also cautioned that parking issues at Sunlight may or may not be related to capacity. 

“I’ve also heard they’re charging for parking and people don’t want to pay that, so they’re choosing to park on the street because they know it’s free,” he said. “So it could be different issues.” 

Swintek, however, argued that the city’s communication with YVHA had become too passive, leaving residents without real answers.

“I cannot sit here and tell Laura that we’re going to have another conversation,” Swintek said. “If they can’t answer us in a week, then they need to answer in person.”

Leeson said he would again contact YVHA and request a response addressing three issues: parking adequacy, cleanliness and upkeep at Alpenglow, and enforcement of parking rules at Sunlight Crossing.

The debate highlighted the uneasy partnership between the city and the YVHA — a quasi-governmental body tasked with developing and facilitating affordable housing across Routt County. 

The relationship between the city and YVHA has occasionally been strained due to questions of accountability and jurisdiction. While the city sets zoning and parking codes, the authority handles financing, federal subsidies and developer partnerships. 

Once projects are built, most property management duties are contracted to private companies rather than handled directly by YVHA staff.

That structure drew skepticism from multiple council members Tuesday, who argued it leaves tenants uncertain about where to turn when issues arise. 

“The problem is, if somebody came here and has a sh—y landlord and they complain to us, I would say, ‘Handle it with your landlord.’ That’s not the dynamic here,” said Swintek. “They are funded with public funds. They are an authority. They’re under our purview.”

“Yes, they’re building to code, but what they’ve built is insufficient, and we are getting the complaints,” he continued. “So if anything, we need the housing authority to either respond to us to be here so we can ask these questions and the public can ask these questions — because otherwise, we’re back in this same dynamic that I raised a year ago, that people think we are the housing authority, and we’re not.”

Councilor Dave Barnes added that the city may not have a clear picture of how many people live in each unit or how parking is allocated. 

“Maybe that’s one of the reasons there are too many cars,” he said. “Nobody’s tracking it.”

Council briefly considered summoning YVHA leadership to its Jan. 6 meeting for public questioning but ultimately agreed to attempt another written outreach through Leeson.

“You’ve built something, it isn’t working — what are you doing to make it better?” said Swintek. “The end.” 

In lieu of responding to questions from the newspaper, YVHA Executive Director Jason Peasley forwarded the housing authority’s comments sent to city council on Wednesday afternoon.

“In every one of these circumstances, the City nor YVHA can unilaterally make changes to the operations and management of Sunlight Crossings or Alpenglow Village,” Peasley wrote. “We need the cooperation and buy-in of our partners (Overland Property Group and Gorman) to make meaningful changes.”

“I suggest that YVHA, the City and our partners (OPG and Gorman) meet to discuss tangible steps we can all take to delivering a better living experience for our tenants,” he added.