3.
Douglas County Housing Partnership:
Artie Lehl, Deputy Director: Douglas County Housing Partnership (DCHP) is the Public
Housing Authority for Douglas County, City of Lone Tree, City of Castle Pines, Town of
Parker, and Town of Castle Rock. Housing instability affects all communities due to the
high demand of affordable housing, depleted housing supply and production of supply due
to increased cost of development, and loss of affordability. DCHP is at the end of the
housing continuum and provides permanent housing for those caught in the cycle of cost
burden, instability, eviction, foreclosure, and homelessness. Colorado is ranked number
eight as least affordable according to the 2024 Out of Reach report. This means that a
household requires an income of $37.47 per hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment.
Based on the average rent in Douglas County, households need to make $42.33 per hour to
afford a two-bedroom apartment. The largest need for affordable housing in the County is
for the 0-30% income category. These are usually individuals who are strictly on social
security or disability income. Middle income properties are the next highest need. The
average home price in Douglas County is $800,000. This means that households would
have to make $150,000 a year for a four-person household to make this an affordable
housing option.
DCHP has been working on reducing the cost of housing for ten years to help bridge the
growing gap. DCHP administers 91 State Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV) and currently
has 91 people on the waitlist. There are 2,912 income aligned units in Douglas County with
2,279 at 60%AMI, 160 at 50%AMI, 70 at 40% and 163 at 30%AMI.
Homeless Diversion and Housing Navigation services provided by DCHP include
foreclosure mitigation counseling and reverse mortgage counseling services and is made by
possible by the Transformational Homeless Response Grant (THRG) provided by the
Colorado State Department of Local Affairs. Proposition 123 funding is a
multi-jurisdictional collaboration to develop affordable units across the County. There are
currently 334 units under construction and have a final goal of 1300 units to be completed
across all the jurisdictions of Douglas County by 2026.
4.
GOALS Update:
Paolo Diaz, CEO, Family Tree: Paolo Diaz served in Adams County on their poverty and
homelessness initiatives for 6 years then worked in the non-profit sector for 12 years after
that. The Generational Opportunities to Achieve Long-term Success (GOALS) program
takes a two generational approach to put the whole family on a path to economic security.
It is a 4–12month transitional housing program with wraparound supportive services.
From July 1, 2024 – February 28, 2025, 100% of families exited to safe and stable housing,
76% of female single heads of households, 83% of families have maintained or increased
their income, 6.369 nights of shelter were provided, and the average family size of GOALS
is three people per household. There are currently three Douglas County families
participating in the new GOALS program, 2 of the 3 families are single female heads of
households, all families have school – aged children enrolled in school, all families have
maintained or increased their income, and 762 nights of shelter have been provided.
