The Yampa Valley Housing Authority has received a $525,000 supplemental grant from the state of Colorado to further support the authority’s Prop 123 Down Payment Assistance Program, states a recent news release. 

Through the down payment assistance program, qualified first-time homeowners in Steamboat Springs, Hayden, Oak Creek and Yampa can receive a 0% interest loan of up to $20,000 to use toward a down payment on their new home. 

The program refers to Proposition 123, a state ballot measure approved by Colorado voters in 2022, which created the State Affordable Housing Fund. This fund now supports initiatives centered around homeownership, homelessness, capacity planning and land banking, among others. 

Per YVHA’s down payment assistance program guidelines, eligible borrowers are first-time homeowners earning up to 120% of area median income who are purchasing a home in a community that maintains Proposition 123 compliance. The home must be their primary residence. 

In 2026, 16 Proposition 123 down payment assistance loans closed with buyers via YVHA administration, totaling $320,000, with all loans disbursed for the maximum amount of $20,000 each. Fifteen of these were buyers at The Cottonwoods at Mid Valley — Steamboat Springs’ first for-sale affordable housing development in decades — while one was a single-family homebuyer outside of the Cottonwoods. 

YVHA officials noted in the statement that, as costs associated with homeownership in the Yampa Valley continue to rise, acquiring sufficient resources to make a down payment on a new home can be “prohibitive” for community members.

This program, then, serves as a critical component to providing support for those whose “means are stretched thin through the process of buying a home.” 

With the receipt of the $525,000 grant, YVHA has now received over $1.25 million in grant funding from the state for Proposition 123 down payment assistance loans since 2025. YVHA officials said more down payment assistance loan applications are “in the pipeline.” 

To learn more about YVHA’s down payment assistance resources for Routt County locals, visit YVHA.org/Resources/Buyers-Resources/.