Applicants for a workforce housing complex in Keystone may need temporary shelter after being told the units — originally set to open this summer — may not be ready for move in until December.

The 47-unit Wintergreen Ridge, the final phase of the Village at Wintergreen workforce housing development, opened its waitlist in late May with the intention of moving in its first tenants before the end of summer. But after failing its sprinkler test with Summit Fire & EMS, the project’s developer, Gorman & Co., says the building’s opening will likely face a monthslong delay.

“You can’t open a building until you show that you have a number of issues addressed, and fire suppression is one of them,” said Gorman & Co. Colorado market president Kimball Crangle. “It was pretty unfortunate. We were pretty upset as well.”

Summit Fire & EMS Division Chief Kim McDonald, in a statement, said, “While we are absolutely sympathetic to the needs of workers desperate for housing in this community and want them to be there as soon as possible” the agency is “not willing to take chances with a life-safety matter like fire sprinklers in multifamily buildings.”

Developers must now rework the building’s sprinkler system, which is subject to an additional site review by the Summit County government, with county officials saying they plan to handle the review with a sense of urgency.

While Crangle said the units could be ready for move in sooner than December, “We wanted to give folks a safe date.”

Some applicants in housing limbo

Applicants who were approved for units in June were told about the change in an email sent by Gorman & Co. in late July. Crangle said she did not have information on the total number of applicants who were approved for one of the complex’s 47 units but said that “it was substantial.”

Applicants who spoke with the Summit Daily News say they may not be able to stay in their current housing situation much longer and will need to find an alternative option sooner than December.

“The kids keep asking if we will have a place to live,” said Claribel Gomez, who immigrated with her three daughters to Summit County from Mexico last October. “I understand that I am not the only person in this situation. … It’s not easy.”

For the past six months, Gomez has been living in a former hotel in Silverthorne, now owned by the Summit County government, which converted the building into below-market-rate rental housing. Gomez was able to secure the unit through a recently launched newcomers program run by Mountain Dreamers, an immigrant advocacy nonprofit.

By partnering with the county and town of Breckenridge, the nonprofit has been able to master lease two government-owned units, which it makes available to new immigrants in need of temporary, subsidized shelter. For current tenants, there is pressure to find more stable accommodation to allow other families and individuals to occupy those spaces as they move through the newcomers program.

“We are funded to use those units as short-term, transitional housing as we integrate newcomer migrants,” said Mountain Dreamers Executive Director Peter Bakken. “We did not create those units to be long-term housing.”

Gomez said she’s made every effort to find new housing and is currently on the waitlist for several affordable housing complexes across the county. With three daughters, Gomez said she doesn’t want to have to share an apartment — often the only way to make housing affordable — and sees having her own unit at Wintergreen Ridge as her best option.

“I want a stable place,” Gomez said. “I want security for my girls.”

Abigail Martinez, another county resident currently living in transitional housing who secured a spot at Wintergreen Ridge, said finding an alternative is going to be “very difficult.”

While Mountain Dreamers has focused its temporary housing efforts on newcomers, it’s also worked to provide shelter for Martinez, who has lived in the county for 12 years and repeatedly lost housing.

Martinez said she’s never been offered a lease that didn’t go beyond two or three years. At her last apartment in Dillon, Martinez said she was told to leave even before her lease was up after she made a police report over stolen belongings that were in her unit.

For the past month, Martinez has lived in one of Mountain Dreamers’ master-leased units in Breckenridge. With most of her belongings in a storage unit — and demand for housing from the newcomers program — Martinez said she knows she can’t stay there much longer.

She thought she’d be able to move into Wintergreen Ridge as early as July. With the possibility now being December, Martinez said, “I cannot be here for the next five months. I don’t know where to go.”

More workforce housing units are slated to come online by the end of the year, with a lottery process opening this week for a new development in Breckenridge. While both Gomez and Martinez said they will likely apply, they feel their chances of securing a new unit are slim given the high demand for housing.

The 52-unit Larkspur complex in Breckenridge, an affordable housing project between the county and town government, received over 1,000 applications after launching its lottery this past winter, for example.

“It’s like being chosen by God,” Martinez said of the lottery process. “It takes a miracle to win.”

Developer, county respond with options

Applicants who’ve secured a spot at Wintergreen but may not be able to work with a December move-in date will soon have the option of applying to two other workforce housing complexes, said Crangle with Gorman & Co.

One is the 172-unit Vista Verde site in Breckenridge, which is set to open forms for a lottery from Tuesday, Aug. 6 until Aug. 16. Unlike Wintergreen Ridge, which will be available to county residents making between 30% and 60% of the area median income, Vista Verde will target a higher range of 80% to 120% of area median income.

In 2024 figures, that represents an income range of $68,240 to $102,360 for an individual, according to data from the Summit Combined Housing Authority.

The other development is the 135-unit Smith Ranch apartments in Silverthorne. Officials are likely to launch applications later in the fall. Crangle said 65 of those units will be for residents making 30% and 60% of the median income. That represents an income range of $25,590 to $51,180.

Both projects are being developed by Gorman. Wintergreen Ridge applicants, even those who’ve secured a unit, would need to apply separately to both Vista Verde and Smith Ranch to be considered, Crangle said.

“Housing is very scarce in Summit County, as we all know,” Crangle said. “We’re fortunate to have a couple of other projects coming online within the same time.”

While Vista Verde will offer units based on a lottery, Crangle said the selection process for Smith Ranch is still being worked out. Typically, lotteries cannot be used for housing projects that rely on federal tax credits for funding. In Gorman’s case, both Wintergreen Ridge — which used a waitlist — and the 65 low-income units at Smith Ranch were financed in-part by federal tax credits. Vista Verde was not, which is why a lottery can be used.

Crangle said Gorman is in close contact with Wintergreen applicants and will continue to send updates and announcements via email.

In the meantime, Mountain Dreamers is working with the county government to provide a stopgap solution to those who need it most.

County Manager Dave Rossi said the county is prepared to provide roughly a dozen beds, most of them located in units in one the county’s hotel conversions, as interim shelter for applicants until Wintergreen Ridge opens.

Bakken said the additional spaces would help free up the master-leased units for the newcomers program while ensuring that current tenants aren’t displaced. While it provides a temporary fix for some, Bakken said his main hope is for applicants who’ve secured a spot at Wintergreen Ridge to be able to move in as soon as possible.

“I do appreciate how the county and the town of Breckenridge and Gorman, I believe, are trying very hard to make this happen,” Bakken said. “The people most impacted by this are the people who need housing and who thought they had it. These people don’t have much of a voice in this community, and that’s what Mountain Dreamers is here for.”

Published on SummitDaily.com.