Brandon Leuallen, The Business Times

Lack of inventory. Rising interest rates. New state and local regulations. Increased fees. Inefficiencies within planning departments. Down-payment assistance.

Those were several of the key issues discussed Feb. 6 at the Housing and Building Association of Western Colorado’s 2025 Housing Summit, hosted by Colorado Mesa University, that brought together experts, developers and local government officials to address Mesa County’s ongoing housing crisis.

Economic Pressures on Housing Supply

Kicking off the event Kevin Bray, president of the Home Builders Association of Western Colorado, outlined the economic challenges that have exacerbated the housing shortage. Bray said current costs are still being affected by the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, noting the federal government’s printing of money contributed to inflation, which the Federal Reserve then countered with high interest rates.

Bray said housing inventory is a primary factor in high costs of housing locally as migration into Mesa County is outpacing housing inventory. He said personal incomes have increased, but they have not kept up with housing costs.

“Incomes have increased by 20 percent, buying power went down by 25 percent,” Bray said.

Bray displayed charts showing the number of available lots is insufficient to meet the demand for housing, while building-permit activity is also declining.

“We’ve been underbuilding for quite a long time,” he said.

Bray stressed the importance of increasing lot inventory before homes can be constructed. The presentation revealed Mesa County has 1,200 existing lots, but fewer than 900 are expected to come online, with approval timelines stretching 12 to 18 months.

“The City of Grand Junction is reporting a 70 percent reduction in applications. We will see the effects of that in 2026,” Bray said.

Challenges in Housing Development

Bray highlighted how rising construction costs, including materials, new regulations and increasing fees, are making housing less affordable.

He said recent regulations, such as Colorado’s energy codes and the City of Grand Junction’s updated Transportation Engineering Design Standards — primarily for bike and pedestrian infrastructure — have significantly increased local costs. Additionally, impact fees are expected to increase, following the completion of the Grand Junction’s current impact-fee study.

Bray said increased costs will impact existing homeowners as well as new construction.

“In a tight inventory market, resale homes are going to follow new construction,” he said. “They’re going to follow it tighter. The tighter the inventory is, which means when new construction costs more, the resale market is going to follow that, and that’s going to cost more to everyone.” 

Bray concluded by urging local collaboration

“This is a supply problem,” he said. “If there’s one thing that I would hope that the community would take a serious look at, (it) is the affordability gap. This is really a great community, and I think we need to have a collaborative approach. We need to be together, and we need to aggressively pursue this issue. And that would be my hope that you all take away.”

Colorado Housing Affordability

DJ Summers, director of research for the Common Sense Institute, shed light on the broader housing trends in Colorado, emphasizing housing affordability is a growing problem.

“The only state that is less competitive when it comes to housing is Hawaii,” Summers said.

Summers said home prices have doubled or even tripled in some areas, but wages have not kept pace. In Mesa County in 2013, it took 43 hours of work at the average wage to afford the average mortgage. By 2023, that number increased to 103 hours of work.

Summers added Colorado’s migration patterns are shifting.

“International migration has outpaced domestic migration, and we’re facing a housing shortage of 150,000 units statewide,” he said.

Mesa County alone is short about 1,421 housing units, contributing to the uphill battle against rising costs.

Local Efforts to Address Housing Crisis

Panel discussions during the summit highlighted local efforts to combat the crisis with varying strategies for addressing affordability and availability.

Charlie Getchter, builder and founder of BOA Builders, discussed the challenges developers face in light of rising costs.

“If we have a housing crisis, why are we increasing fees instead of reducing them?” Getchter asked. “Policies that increase costs for developers only get passed down to homebuyers.”

Nate Porter, founder of Porter Homes, agreed and pointed out regulations and planning-department delays add significant challenges to building affordable housing.

“It takes a lot longer to go through the process, and time is money,” he said.

Emilee Powell, executive director of Housing Resources of Western Colorado, said nonprofits face additional challenges.

“Funding sources are oversubscribed, and we can’t rely on the federal or state level to fix this,” she said. “We have to get creative locally to provide affordable housing options.”

Local Officials Address Challenges

Fruita City Manager Shannon Vassen highlighted his city’s efforts to increase subsidized housing inventory, streamline housing processes and create more opportunities for development.

“We created a housing authority in 2022 and have streamlined many processes, making it easier for developers to get projects done,” Vassen said. “We’re always looking for ways to improve efficiency.”

Vassen said the City of Fruita delays the collection of impact fees until the certificate of occupancy, allowing developers to reduce costs during the construction process and pay the fees after the home is sold, rather than up front.

Grand Junction City Manager Mike Bennett, who was previously Fruita’s city manager, emphasized the importance of adaptability and collaboration.

“I’ve learned early in my career you’ve got to listen to the people that are closest to the work. We need to find new solutions to housing problems, as the old ones aren’t working anymore,” Bennett said, while also expressing frustration that the only affordable housing being developed is subsidized.

Addressing impact fees, Bennett said he doesn’t personally like them, but the city cannot fund infrastructure through sales-tax revenue alone. Without the fees, the city would need other funding sources to support growth. He contrasted the situation with Montrose, which has no impact fee for recreation but has passed multiple bonds to fund parks and recreation.

Mesa County Administrator Todd Hollenbeck said the county is addressing housing challenges by working on improving efficiency.

“We’re looking at using technology to streamline services,” he said. 

Hollenbeck said the county set up Starlink on county vehicles to get real-time data in the field, and it hopes one day to have an AI system that can expedite the process.

Hollenbeck addressed fees and regulations from the county’s perspective, saying, “We’ve kept fees low and haven’t increased fees since 2018.” 

Hollenbeck drew applause from the crowd when he summed up his thoughts by saying, “The simple answer is to remove red tape and regulation and streamline.”

Role of Employers in Solutions

Another panel discussion addressed the impact of housing on businesses and employees. Andrew Golike, plant manager for Coorstek, shared how the company has had to adapt to the housing shortage.

“Flexibility is key when employees are struggling to find homes,” Golike said. “Some of our employees have had to temporarily park campers or look for roommates to make ends meet.”

Amy Jordan, chief human resources officer at Community Hospital, discussed the difficulty of recruiting employees when affordable housing is scarce.

“We’re seeing stress on our recruitment efforts, especially for families looking for homes with yards for pets,” Jordan said. “Relocation assistance and down payment programs are critical for us to keep talent in the area.”

District 51 School Board President Andrea Haitz said housing affordability is not often cited in interview or exit surveys as a primary reason for teachers leaving or not joining the district. She attributed this to the district’s efforts to increase teacher pay and collaborate with the housing authority on a down-payment-assistance program.

However, she emphasized the types of housing being built can affect student enrollment. Referring to a chart presented earlier, Haitz said about 75 percent of in-migration to Mesa County involved individuals without children under 18 years old.

“According to the demographer, apartments yield 0.12 kids per unit, single-family homes yield 0.42 kids per unit, and mobile homes yield 1 child per unit,” Haitz said.