Steamboat Springs, Colorado: 75-Unit Development Provides Housing for Tourism Town’s Local Workforce

Home > Case Studies > Steamboat Springs, Colorado: 75-Unit Development Provides Housing for Tourism Town's Local Workforce

 

Steamboat Springs, Colorado: 75-Unit Development Provides Housing for Tourism Town's Local Workforce

 

Steamboat Springs, a small resort city of 13,000, depends on essential service workers in the hotel, restaurant, and skiing industries to sustain its tourism-centered economy. Most of Routt County's population lives in Steamboat Springs, yet more than half of the county's renter households are cost burdened, spending more than 30 percent of their income on rent. A 2025 housing study found that the county faced a shortage of 3,100 units to meet workforce demand. Recognizing that Steamboat Springs' economic vitality depends on maintaining a strong, healthy workforce, the Yampa Valley Housing Authority (YVHA) has implemented affordable housing solutions since its founding in 2003 and has built 285 additional workforce units since 2017. In 2020, YVHA partnered with Overland Property Group to develop Anglers Four Hundred, a 75-unit complex in the southern part of the city. Despite COVID-related supply chain delays, Anglers Four Hundred opened in 2024. The project received an award from Novogradac in 2024 in the Development that Best Exemplifies Rural Community Impact category.

Anglers Four Hundred

Anglers Four Hundred's intended purpose is to allow Steamboat Springs' essential service workers, including ski instructors, hospitality staff, restaurant servers, housekeepers, and retail clerks, to live in the community they serve. Most Routt County jobs are in and around Steamboat Springs, but the city's high cost of living forces many essential workers to commute from neighboring towns. By offering 75 one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments for households earning between 30 and 80 percent of the area median income, the project provides attainable living options close to jobs, transit, and services. Elliot Lawrence, deputy director of YVHA, shares that residents of Anglers Four Hundred are members of the local community and often juggle multiple jobs to support their families and keep the economy functioning.

The property consists of two 4-story residential buildings linked by a single-story community building that houses the leasing office, fitness center, and multipurpose community room. The space offers residents access to the rooftop patio that overlooks the ski area. Each residential unit features LED lighting and water-efficient fixtures. The air conditioning system is designed to protect residents from both summer temperatures and wildfire smoke.

Exterior amenities include a playground, grilling area, and raised garden beds where tenants can grow food during the short summer season. Residents are also steps away from the city's free bus line and bike trails and are within walking distance of a grocery store and a shopping center.

Overcoming Design and Construction Hurdles

Several challenges arose while developing Anglers Four Hundred, including navigating the city's form-based code, record-breaking snow during construction, and rising labor and material costs. The developers hired JGR Architects to design the project to meet funding requirements and comply with Steamboat Springs' form-based code. During this process, the team realized that the code limited the apparent length of multifamily buildings. As a result, the team altered the design to break the building mass into several wings connected by a commons and leasing office.

With the entitlements in place, the project moved to the construction phase, during which site conditions and weather became central challenges. Soil and site conditions delayed vertical work until summer and pushed the critical roof and dry-in dates closer to the first heavy snowfall. The record-breaking snowfall of the 2022 to 2023 winter season compounded the construction challenges. Despite these obstacles, the construction team worked through the winter to secure a certificate of occupancy by summer 2024.

Financing

In 2017, voters within the YVHA's jurisdiction approved a one-mill property tax levy to fund "permanently attainable" housing for low- to moderate-income residents. The levy established a local housing fund that YVHA uses as a revolving loan program to fill financing gaps in affordable housing projects across Routt County. Through this fund, YVHA contributed a $2 million loan to Anglers Four Hundred, which the developers leveraged to attract additional public and private financing (Table 1). The capital stack totaled over $32 million, combining $12.8 million in federal low-income housing tax credit equity, over $2.6 million in state tax credit equity, and $2.2 million in Colorado Division of Housing's Housing Development Grant program funds. Additionally, due to rising construction pricing the developer deferred their development fee and Overland Property Group contributed almost $1,000,000 on behalf of the development team.

Workforce Housing Partnership

Since opening Anglers Four Hundred, YVHA has participated in the Yampa Valley Regional Housing Partnership, a coalition of employers and nonprofits focused on housing solutions. The partnership includes University of Colorado Health, Northwest Colorado Health, the Steamboat Springs School District, ski resorts, banks, and major property managers. The group meets regularly to identify workforce needs and explore allocating units from future developments directly to key employers. Lawrence emphasizes that the workforce is "the heart and soul of the town, and the ones that are really the front faces for all the visitors and tourists and people that come in to experience winter or summertime in Steamboat."