GUNNISON — Paula wandered room to room in the newly constructed home in Gunnison’s Lazy K neighborhood, admiring the faucets, the dishwasher, the bathrooms, the storage closets, the window views, while her 5-year-old granddaughter Betsy spun through the spacious rooms like a tiny dervish. The freshly painted newness, the working plumbing and light fixtures, so different from the dilapidated mobile home in the Frontier Land mobile home park that her family called home for the past 13 years.
“This is a good space. Everything is so new, I’m going to really enjoy this home,” she said at the end of the tour, keys held tightly in her hands.
ABOVE: A former resident of Frontier Land mobile home park looks out the window, Aug. 29, of her new temporary home at the Lazy K subdivision in Gunnison. LEFT: Yeni, who did not want her last name used, and her daughter, Betsy, test the faucet in the new housing unit, Aug. 29, in the Lazy K subdivision. RIGHT: Paula, a former resident of Frontier Land mobile home park, display the keys to their temporary home. (Photos by Dean Krakel, Special to The Colorado Sun)
ABOVE: A former resident of Frontier Land mobile home park looks out the window, Aug. 29, of her new temporary home at the Lazy K subdivision in Gunnison. MIDDLE: Yeni, who did not want her last name used, and her daughter, Betsy, test the faucet in the new housing unit, Aug. 29, in the Lazy K subdivision. BELOW: Paula, a former resident of Frontier Land mobile home park, display the keys to their temporary home. (Photos by Dean Krakel, Special to The Colorado Sun)
Paula and her family are among the 50 residents of Frontier Land mobile home park forced to move when the park closed. Neglected and in a state of serious disrepair, the park was nevertheless home to many families, most with small children, who work in the Gunnison Valley on ranches, in construction, housekeeping and restaurants. Nearly all residents are from Mexico. Some are Cora people, an indigenous ethnic group from the mountains of northwestern Mexico who have found a home away from home in the valley.
Residents were notified in late July that they would have to vacate the Frontier Land by Sept.1.
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Through the work of the Gunnison Valley Regional Housing Authority, spearheaded by its director Andy Kadlec, Paula and the other displaced families have found housing elsewhere in the Gunnison Valley.
The Gunnison Valley Rural Transportation Authority made six units in the newly constructed Lazy K subdivision available to the residents of Frontier Land. These units in a new neighborhood where affordable and market-rate housing are commingled, were purchased as residences for bus drivers. However, a shortage of bus drivers in the Gunnison Valley left the units vacant and available to Frontier Land residents, but only until mid-November.
“A lot of our community really do want to help and are willing to help. I’m grateful for the support to help these residents. I’m grateful that we found this opportunity to get them into housing in the valley. They’re grateful,” Kadlec said. “But at the end of the day it’s still a tough situation. They still don’t know what’s next. This isn’t a permanent fix. There’s a lot of anxiety and uncertainty right now.”
CORRECTION: This story was updated at 10:20 a.m. on Sept. 4, 2023, to correct the spelling of Gunnison County Housing Authority director Andy Kadlec’s last name.