Workforce Housing

Contact Info

Frisco Town Hall

1 East Main Street
Frisco, CO 80443 United States
970-668-5276
Mon - Fri 8:00am - 5:00pm

Susan M. Lee

Interim Community Development Director and Planning Manager/Principle Planner
970-668-2566
Email

*Looking for rental information? Scroll down for resources.*

Frisco Town Council has identified affordable workforce housing as one of their top three priorities, and is working on a comprehensive housing plan, which incorporates multiple strategies to insure employees are able to live where they work.

Why is workforce housing a challenge?

Mountain communities, like Frisco, are great places to visit, and their popularity as vacation destinations commonly results in a shortage of affordable workforce housing because of the prevalence of vacation homes and vacation rentals and the lack of inventory inherent in a community with limited buildable land. Couple this with a tourism based economy, which primarily produces lower paying service jobs, and housing the local workforce becomes challenging.

Learn more:

2019 Summit County Housing Needs Assessment Report
Housing Solutions Strategy Town Council Presentation – June 8, 2021

Finding Housing Solutions

Frisco recognizes that our community is a better and more vibrant place when our workforce can afford to live and raise their families where they work. Workforce housing is intended to serve all areas of the workforce including first responders, medical care providers, teachers and hospitality and restaurant workers, so our residents have the services vital to preserving the quality of life for all community members.

The Town of Frisco has a program, Housing Helps authorized by Resolution 21-17, where the Town provides cash for a deed restriction in order to incentivize real estate buyers and homeowners to deed restrict their properties to maintain and sustain homes for locals working in the community. The Town in turn pays buyers, businesses, current property owners, and investors to accept a deed restriction on homes that are currently without a deed restriction. 

What kind of deed restriction? 

  • The most flexible type- recipients of Housing Helps assistance are required to execute an occupancy-only deed restriction, where occupants (owners or renters) must work at least 30 hours a week at businesses within one mile of the Ten Mile Basin- basically Copper, Frisco (including the hospital, County Commons, and the middle school) and Farmer’s Corner (including the high school). 
  • There are NO income caps, NO price appreciation caps, and NO household size requirements as part of this occupancy-only deed restriction. 

How much cash assistance? 

  • 10-15% of the value of the property- The Town estimates that the value of the deed restriction will likely be in the range of 10-15% of the market value of the property.
  • The amount paid for a deed restriction will vary depending on the market and how well the home meets the current needs in the community.
  • Participants may use the funds for ANYTHING, including using it as part of their down payment. 

Program Options

  • Option 1: Town purchases a deed restriction from a new home buyer who can use that cash assistance for anything, including as down payment assistance. Buyers may include businesses or investors who want to rent their properties to occupants who work at least 30 hours a week at businesses within one mile of the Ten Mile Basin.
  • Option 2: Town purchases a deed restriction from a current property owner (including businesses and developers) and then this property has a deed restriction that limits occupancy to local workforce community members who work at least 30 hours a week at businesses within one mile of the Ten Mile Basin.
  • Option 3: Town purchases a market rate or existing deed restricted housing unit and resells the property with a deed restriction limiting occupancy to local workforce community members. Income caps, price appreciation caps, and/or household size limits may be imposed at the discretion of the Town if the property is purchased by the Town.
  • Option 4: Town provides financial assistance to a current property owner to construct an accessory dwelling unit that is deed restricted to local workforce community members who work at least 30 hours a week at businesses within one mile of the Ten Mile Basin.

How to Apply:

  • Complete the online Housing Helps application 
  • If approved, Town staff will assist with processing the Housing Helps Purchase Agreement and Housing Restrictive Covenant
  • Process typically takes about 30-45 days, similar to a real estate transaction 

On October 12, 2021, the Frisco Town Council approved a pilot, long-term rental incentive program that aims to immediately increase the number of long-term rental units available to the Town’s local workforce. The Town of Frisco is partnering with Omni Real Estate to administer the program, which offers financial incentives to homeowners who are currently making their properties available in the short-term rental market, in order to convert them into long-term rentals.

Town Council directed staff to launch this pilot program with the target goal being of housing approximately 24 Town of Frisco employees for six-months with a program budget of $100,000, which includes management fees. This will give the Town a chance to focus on how this program works with their own employees, before it is launched to the larger community.

Apply to Rent Your Home Long-Term In the Frisco Housing Locals Program

Program basics

  • In the preliminary program, the Town will master lease a property and in turn, sub-lease the property to full-time or seasonal employees that have already been screened with a background check from the hiring process.
  • Depending on unit type and condition, the owner’s expenses, and employee’s wages, each agreement will be negotiated to reflect the specifics of the situation.
  • Omni Real Estate, a local real estate and property management group in Summit County, has experience with programs that assist residents in finding long-term housing and negotiating leases that are affordable.
  • Staff will continue to fine-tune the program details to achieve optimal outcomes for both homeowners and tenants.
  • Summit County and the Town of Breckenridge are also moving forward with short-term rental conversion program, Lease to Locals, in an effort to increase the number of long-term rental units available in the County.

In March 2017, Frisco Town Council made the decision to form a Housing Task Force consisting of community members with diverse backgrounds related to housing. The Housing Task Force had their first meeting on May 11, 2017 and were scheduled to meet twice a month for 6 months going forward (finished meeting in November 2017) . The goal of the task force was to assist the Frisco Town Council by creating a strategic housing plan for the short and long term workforce housing needs of the community. Areas of recommendation would include housing project priorities, code incentives and 5A fund strategies, among other issues.

Housing Task Force members were chosen by Town Council after a robust application and selection process and met together at times and in separate groups, one focusing on projects and the other focusing on policy.

In August 2017, the Projects group put together a charrette to look at 3 different Town owned parcels and presented the results to Town Council at an August work session. The results can be found in the Housing Task Force Charrette Overview.

2018 Housing Task Force Final Report Final

In November of 2006 the voters authorized a County-wide 0.125% sales tax and a development impact fee for affordable housing purposes. This was renewed by voters in 2015 into perpetuity.
A new construction fund (5A) .6% tax was approved by Summit County voters in November of 2016 and ends in 2026 (10 years).
It is also likely that the Town of Frisco will utilize its Capital Improvement Fund for workforce housing projects as needed to augment what is collected through dedicated sales tax sources

Frisco’s land use regulations provide an incentive for the development of workforce housing units. The code allows for an unlimited number of additional “bonus” units within a development as long 50% of the additional bonus units are deed restricted. It works like this. Let’s say a property can build 10 residential units based on the density allowed for the zone district in which the property is located. The Town refers to these units as being allowed “outright”. The developer proposes 20 units instead of the 10 units allowed outright, for an additional 10 bonus units. This means that 50% of the bonus units (5 in this case) must be deed restricted for qualified employees who work at least 30 hours per week in Summit County.
Frisco has very permissive code provisions that allow accessory dwelling units in almost all zone districts. Accessory rental units allow land owners to have an extra unit of density on a property, allowing for the infusion of additional workforce units within the town and providing a source of income to land owners. Accessory dwelling units must be deed restricted to workers in the county.
The Town of Frisco and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) have partnered to develop plans for workforce housing at 619 Granite Street in Frisco. The approximately 0.58 acre site, was previously used as a mobile home park to provide affordable housing for CDOT employees. CDOT is now looking to redevelop the site in collaboration with the Town of Frisco as workforce rental housing – 619 Granite Street Workforce Housing Project.

There are several resources in Frisco and Summit County to help employees and community members with their long-term housing needs.

In September 2019, The Town Council approved a new Residential Housing Restrictive Covenant and Notice of Lien which any deed restricted owner has the option to opt in anytime in the future. Learn more and review the Frequently Asked Questions regarding this new covenant.