Over on the Western Slope, Curtis Englehart, director of the Mesa County Workforce Center, said the area’s high unemployment rate improved to 6% in May, from 7.9% in January. That’s still pretty high, but he said it sure doesn’t feel like the county is in a state of high unemployment, especially if you’re in the […]
Housing
Posted inBusiness, Growth, Housing, News, Newsletters, Outsider
Minturn wrestles with the decade-old promises of a big-dream developer
MINTURN — It’s been more than a decade since Bobby Ginn’s grandiose dream for Minturn collapsed, but the community is still dealing with the fallout. The former railroad town’s council on Wednesday will weigh a proposal to reduce the millions of dollars in perks the bankrupt Florida developer promised Minturn in 2008. A showdown is […]
Posted inBusiness, Housing, News, Newsletters, Outsider
Shipping container hotel in Florence sparks new ideas for Colorado housing
FLORENCE — Past downtown’s hip coffee shop and brewery, across the street from a gravel pit and next door to a long abandoned house, a Lego-like solution to Colorado’s housing crisis is taking shape. “Everything you see in here was recycled or it can be recycled,” said Wyatt Reed, swinging open the doors to a […]
Posted inBusiness, Housing, News, Newsletters, Outsider
Storage units becoming as hard to get as affordable housing as wealthy remote workers take over the high country
Chase Beck has fielded dozens of calls like this in the past few months. “They say ‘I just had the floor taken out from under me. I’ve been living here for years. I need to move out in 30 days and I’ve got nowhere to go. Can you help?’” Beck says. The waiting list at […]
Posted inHousing, News, Politics and Government
As the cost of Colorado housing increases, so does homelessness
By Patty Nieberg, The Associated Press/Report for America A federal freeze on most evictions enacted last year is scheduled to expire July 31, after the Biden administration extended the date by a month. The moratorium, put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September, was the only tool keeping millions of […]
Posted inHousing, News, Transportation, Wildfire
Second mudslide from Grizzly Creek burn scar closes I-70 through Glenwood Canyon
Editor’s Note: Interstate 70 has since re-opened. Find the latest story here. A second weekend mudslide flowing from the Grizzly Creek burn scar closed Interstate 70 in both directions through Glenwood Canyon on Sunday. The highway was closed in both directions between the West Rifle and Dotsero exits after muddy debris covered an area in […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, Housing, News, Technology
What’s Working: The benefits of employing remote workers living in Colorado’s rural communities
The list of employers snubbing Colorado residents for remote work opportunities continues to grow over at ColoradoExcluded.com, the site where Commerce City software engineer Aaron Batilo is posting job listings he finds — or are sent to him — to document an unintended result of Colorado’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act. Some companies just […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, Housing, News
Struggling renters get one more month — likely the last — to postpone monthly rent payment
With thousands of Coloradans still waiting to be approved for — or receive — available rental assistance, some relief came Thursday as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention extended the national eviction moratorium another month to July 31. The CDC said this is likely to be the last time it extends the order, which […]
Posted inBusiness, Housing, News
Survey of Colorado’s high-country residents a “wake-up call” on the devastating implications of the affordable housing crisis
A first-of-its-kind survey of thousands of Colorado mountain town residents has delivered the clearest look at the impact of the pandemic on housing, rentals and lifestyles in the high country to date. And the news is not good. Wealthy newcomers are displacing locals. Businesses are struggling to hire staff. The crowds are growing in the […]
Posted inHousing
A new Colorado law gave them an opportunity to buy their mobile home park. They took it.
Earlier this week, Michael Peirce fielded a final flurry of emails wrapping up the exacting, detailed process of purchasing the Sans Souci mobile home park in Boulder County. The president of the Sans Souci Cooperative board of directors finally felt confident that the sale to his residents group was a done deal. He also was […]