More affordable housing coming a week after crisis was declared in Colorado Springs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- A project to provide three apartments for homeless families, and another project that would provide more than 100 affordable housing units, have been announced.

The announcements come a week after a local watchdog group declared the city's lack of affordable housing to be "a crisis," and demanded immediate action.

Partners in Housing held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday, on campus the Myron Stratton Home. Logan Hall, which officials said served as an orphanage a century ago, will have three ground-floor apartments for homeless families with children.

Workers were putting the finishing touches on the apartments -- installing appliances and completing renovations on the historic building -- before the families move in next week.

"They're in their cars, children are camped out at different people's houses and they're visiting their kids, and so they'll have a place to live with us for a year while we work with them on whatever went wrong, said Mary Stegner, executive director for Partners in Housing.

Transitional housing also is part of a bigger planned project that will include affordable apartments and townhomes, on the site of buildings formerly used by the El Paso County Health Department a decade ago.

The buildings on South Union Boulevard, across from Memorial Park, will be demolished to make room for the housing, and the project also may include shops and other commercial space.

Barb Van Hoy, a community development policy analyst with the city, said that the plan proposes building 60 apartments, 48 townhomes and 16 transitional housing units.

"We don't have much affordable housing downtown and we really need it," she said. "This site is close to a park and close to medical facilities, which will make getting to those places more convenient. The zoning change approved by the City Council for this project also provides some mixed-use development. So there could be restaurants, shops and other commercial development here, too."

No timetable has been announced yet for starting and completing the project.

Mona David, who was formerly homeless and received help from Partners in Housing, said it's important to have affordable housing programs.

"I moved here from New York a few years ago with my daughter," she said. "It was harder to find a job than I expected, and I got into a bad financial situation and couldn't keep my house. So it's incredibly important to make this kind of organization available to people who don't have homes, or are looking for homes or affordable housing. And organizations that do have affordable housing, they tend to keep you on a waiting list for a year, or more."