Nearly eight months after this past winter’s controversy over living conditions at three Yampa Valley Housing Authority affordable housing complexes in Steamboat Springs, property management representatives are assuring city and YVHA officials that they have made “significant progress on all items.” 

Steamboat city leaders, along with YVHA Acting Executive Director Elliot Lawrence, met with representatives from Mission Rock Residential and Overland Property Group on Monday. 

It is the first such meeting since the companies delivered a detailed action plan on how they are improving conditions at Anglers Four Hundred, Alpenglow Village and The Reserves, where tenants have described filthy common areas, chronic understaffing and frustratingly inconsistent enforcement of parking and occupancy rules.

The action plan, delivered in late January, laid out dozens of specific steps, deadlines and reporting requirements aimed at cleaning up dirty common areas, tightening security, cracking down on subletting and shoring up thin staffing at the three complexes. 

The Monday meeting was not announced to the public and did not include a public comment period. 

Overland managing partner Matt Gillam said the companies had shifted from addressing a crisis to maintaining more regular operations, while cautioning that management does not consider every issue resolved.

“We’ll never fully get there, so as we check things off the list, new things come onto it,” Gillam said. “But really moving forward to a proactive nature and an ongoing nature.”

Gillam said Overland has increased its direct presence in Steamboat since the January meeting. He said he has visited about six times, while a quality-control specialist hired after the winter controversy has made roughly a dozen visits. Other staff from Overland’s asset-management and development divisions have also visited the properties, he said.

Mission Rock Residential Senior Regional Manager Carrie Glovka said parking concerns, particularly at Alpenglow, have been addressed through assigned spaces, parking stickers and restriping. She said the parking stalls are now numbered and new signs were installed above ground so they remain visible during the winter.

Alpenglow now has four short-term spaces for stays of three hours or less, Glovka said, as well as six longer-term spaces intended for residents seeking a second parking pass. Anglers and The Reserves also received new state-compliant towing signs, she said, and their lots were restriped and numbered for potential future assigned parking.

Glovka said management is receiving “virtually no concerns or complaints” about parking now, though Gillam said the company still sees room to improve parking at Alpenglow.

“I don’t think the parking is in the place I want it to be at Alpenglow,” Gillam said. “I know these folks don’t either. Staff doesn’t. So we’ll continue exploring solutions for all of those things.”

Management representatives also said they have increased cleaning services at the properties. Glovka said Anglers now has contracted cleaning on a weekly schedule, while office and maintenance staff handle cleaning on days when the vendor is not on-site. At Alpenglow, management said breezeways are being routinely cleaned.

Gillam said Overland explored buying a cleaning robot for Anglers’ long hallways, testing about two dozen devices before selecting one it wanted to purchase. The company’s order, however, was delayed after a larger European order was placed with the vendor.

The company is now exploring leasing or leasing-to-own a machine, Gillam said. He said it would not replace cleaning crews but could increase the frequency of cleaning, particularly on the building’s first floor, which sees the most traffic. 

Pest-control services are also now under contract at all three properties, Glovka said. The company is conducting weekly treatment and inspection work and has told residents to report concerns early without fear of “getting in trouble,” she said. 

At Anglers, management said it has changed the building’s access system after criticism earlier this year over doors that residents said were routinely left unlocked.

Glovka said residents must now enter through the front of the building, while side doors can still be used to exit but not to enter. Gillam said the company spent about $60,000 to strengthen door hardware and improve access controls.

“We thought (the doors) were robust enough,” Gillam said. “Really, we needed to go beef up some of the hardware on those doors.”

The companies have also signed a contract to add security cameras at Anglers, according to Gillam. The installation is still in progress and is expected to include cameras inside the property, as well as in parking and nearby exterior areas.

On concerns about unauthorized residents and possible subleasing, Glovka said Mission Rock established a subleasing-alert system and continues to conduct biannual inspections. She said that since joining the local operation in March, she has not received a report through the alert system.

Gillam said management did remove lockboxes that some residents had installed outside their apartments, saying they could create the appearance that units were being used as short-term rentals even if residents had installed them for other reasons.

The companies also said they have filled previously vacant positions and now have a more stable local team. Glovka said all three properties have daily staffing, except The Reserves, which is staffed Monday through Thursday because it is the smallest of the complexes.

She said Mission Rock has bilingual employees available to assist tenants and that residents have been given information on how to submit maintenance requests, questions and concerns through Mission Rock’s online portal.

Mission Rock holds regular resident functions, Glovka said, though she said the company may consider larger quarterly events in 2027. The company also uses resident surveys at certain points, including after-work orders and move-ins or move-outs, and plans to continue broader feedback surveys.

Gillam said the companies are no longer dealing with a significant maintenance backlog. Mission Rock has a full-time service manager and recently hired a service technician, Glovka said, while the companies are considering creating another position that could assist with cleaning, snow removal, grounds work and trash cleanup.

Management also said it has improved its vendor-payment and invoice-processing system, which was identified in the action plan as a contributing factor in delayed work. Glovka said invoices are now arriving and being processed more reliably, with fewer items getting “lost in translation.”

Gillam said the companies have also maintained communication with state regulators and have no current outstanding or unresolved compliance issues.

“I think we’re transitioned to normalized operations and have been for a month-and-a-half, two months now,” Gillam said. “I think we’re seeing the consistency stick.”

Steamboat Springs City Council President Steve Muntean asked if there were vacancies at the properties, to which Gillam responded that there are “more than they’ve ever seen.”

Gillam said the complexes historically have had little vacancy. At Alpenglow, he said four market-rate apartments were available as of Monday, though he said the company was seeing a similar softening in the broader local housing market.

Steamboat Springs City Councilor Dave Barnes said that he and Lawrence walked through the properties last week, and that the difference from the wintertime was “remarkable.” 

“The common areas were clean, they smelled good … they were staffed,” said Barnes. “The common areas at Alpenglow are spotless, the fitness center is now accessible.” 

Barnes said the properties have a different look and feel, both in the interiors and exteriors, and that it looked like “people were proud to live there.” He thanked representatives from both Mission Rock, Overland and the housing authority for their efforts in improving conditions. 

“I’m proud to say that they’re an asset to the community of Steamboat — much different than they were six months ago,” said Barnes. 

Muntean said that city officials have not heard negative complaints from residents since the implementation of the action plan.

“Six months ago, we were getting a number of emails,” said Muntean. “Now, we don’t get any.” 

Newspaper staff, amid several outreach attempts to residents at the three complexes since initial delivery of the action plan in January, have been unable to confirm with any residents that the changes have taken place and whether they indeed have been positive.