Three years after Space to Create opened in Ridgway, Ouray County’s affordable housing guinea pig is a bit of a mixed bag for residents and the public.

The 30-unit apartment building on Clinton Street is different from the artist-only community it was originally proposed as, though some tenants and project proponents are grateful for that fact.

The current tenants include some artists, along with others who work in various places. The building has housed some residents with criminal records, despite application and lease rules. And though the town of Ridgway drove the project, it’s now managed by private entities, which has caused some confusion and lack of transparency about how the complex is managed.

As the county’s affordable housing landscape expands and changes, the Plaindealer asked some tenants and project leaders to reflect on the project’s challenges and lessons learned.

How did Space to Create turn out, compared to the original vision?

The project was initially pitched as an artist-only affordable housing project, where local artists could live, work and collaborate. The project evolved into what was hoped to be affordable housing for the local workforce, not restricted to artists.

But by the ribbon cutting in 2022, Space to Create had become a low-income housing development, open to almost anyone who applies and meets the income criteria, which didn’t require them to have jobs in Ouray County.

Ouray County’s first large-scale affordable housing project kicked off in 2016 as part of a state initiative aimed at developing workforce housing for artists and creatives in rural places.

Ridgway was one of the first locations selected for the program, with Minneapolis- based nonprofit Artspace as the developer. To be eligible, the town had to be a state-certified creative district, with a population of less than 50,000 people in rural area. Ridgway beat out Telluride and Mancos in 2016 with its application. At the time, the state estimated 12% of the town’s population was employed in creative industries or the arts.

Former Town Manager Jen Coates pushed for the project, saying it was Ridgway’s golden ticket to completing such a project of scale, and Ouray County’s first affordable housing project.

“If we can’t get this partnership, it won’t happen for Ridgway,” Coates said during an April 2016 town council meeting, according to prior reporting in the Plaindealer.

According to Artspace’s mission statement, the nonprofit developer aims to “create, foster, and preserve affordable and sustainable housing and work space for artists, entrepreneurs, and the creative workforce.”

And at first, the town sold its own project as just that. The goal was to boost Ridgway’s economy and create housing for the arts community.

“This is a very specific type of affordable housing, for creatives especially,” Diedra Silbert, who was Ridgway’s community initiatives facilitator at the time, said during the April 2016 town council meeting. “Getting the read on people’s feelings about that and readiness for that in our community is important as we move forward.”

Silbert told the Plaindealer the community was largely on board with an artist-focused development, but that had to shift when pulling together project funding.

Federal funding provided the last dose of money needed to complete the $10 million development. This came with strings attached – the project couldn’t prefer or restrict residents based on any criteria aside from income, dissolving initial dreams of creating an artist community. It also meant no preferences for local workers of any type.

It became apparent about halfway through the development process that the town would have to expand the criteria for tenants beyond artists, to make the project financially viable.

Who is in charge of Space to Create? And how are they accountable to the public and the tenants?

Artspace owns and operates the building, while the town of Ridgway owns the land, but leased it to Artspace for a 99year term. Artspace also leases out the Decker Community Room on the first floor of the building to the town, which uses it for community events.

Artspace hired national property management company Asset Living to manage the building and application process. Asset Living employs local property managers who are on-site a few days per week.

Neither Artspace nor Asset Living are public entities and therefore are not required to share information with the public, despite the fact the project was funded with public money.

Silbert said she heard a number of complaints about applicants who struggled to hear back from Asset Living and didn’t know where to turn. Some applicants have never received responses after turning in applications.

One resident, whom the Plaindealer agreed not to name because she said she feared retaliation from the property managers, said she’s had multiple issues communicating with Asset Living property managers since moving into the building in 2022.

“It feels like management is working just within its legal limit,” she said.

It took her over a week to resolve being accidentally charged double rent and longer to get a response to a work order for a clogged dryer vent, which she called a serious fire hazard. She also said tenants received notice rent was going to increase 13% earlier this year, just before it was time to renew their leases.

So, who can live at Space to Create? Why does it work that way?

Because the project accepted federal funding, rental applications are open to most anyone who meets income criteria. There’s no preference for artists or creatives, despite the original vision. There’s also no preference or requirement for applicants who already live or work in Ridgway or Ouray County. Some applicants have moved into Space to Create from other counties or states, after being selected. Units are available to people or households earning between 30% and 80% of the area median income, and rent is based on those income levels. The selection process is opaque.

Asset Living is responsible for screening applicants for employment, rental, credit and criminal history compatible with state and federal fair housing and antidiscrimination laws, according to a rental application obtained by the Plaindealer. Certain felonies and misdemeanors are cause for automatically denying applicants, such as abuse, assault and battery-related offenses charged within a certain time frame of applying for housing. A lease obtained by the Plaindealer prohibits residents from engaging in criminal activity on or off premises — including any activity prohibited by the screening process — while residing in the building. Any single violation of those terms is good cause for eviction, according to the lease.

The Plaindealer has confirmed at least two tenants with past and recent criminal charges. One resident is a convicted felon who was charged with assault in another case in April. One former resident was charged with more than a dozen misdemeanors in the last two years.

Asset Living did not respond to requests for further information about its screening process for tenants.

What would the town do differently if it had it to do the project over again?

For most project leaders it comes down to funding.

Ridgway Mayor John Clark and others said they wish the town was able to bridge its final funding gap with money other than federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. The federal money hamstrung the project in two ways: limiting the types of applicants the project could select and creating a complicated application and annual renewal process.

“If I had anything to do over again, it would be to try and find something other than Low-Income Housing Tax Credits to finance (the project),” Clark said. “It’s a typical federal government, huge, painful process, and a number of local residents have gone through it and then just said, ‘Forget it. It’s too much work.’” Silbert said she wishes the development could have also catered to local employees making more than 80% AMI but also struggling with housing. Some groups, like local teachers, make too much to qualify for the units.

Could Space to Create be managed by the local housing administrator that’s being hired by the Ridgway, the city of Ouray, and Ouray County instead of the management company Artspace selected?

Ridgway Town Manager Preston Neill said neither staff nor the public has proposed the idea, but that the town doesn’t currently have the bandwidth to manage the property on its own. Artspace did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the issue, and it’s unclear whether the town would have any influence on who Artspace could use to manage the property.

Is it a success?

That depends on who you ask. Tenants are grateful for the opportunity. Project leaders are proud of the development, despite its challenges.

Some residents said they feel there is disappointment around the project because it doesn’t resemble the artist hub as it was originally envisioned.

“There seems to be a lot of animosity for us as residents because the project has sort of failed in a public way,” one resident said.

She considers the project a success in providing low-income workforce housing for the community, and she hopes the public can develop a better understanding of its purpose.

“ As an artist, it doesn’t hurt me or my community to have people living near me that are not in the creative sector,” she said.

Kirsten Hamilton, another resident who has lived at Space to Create since it opened, is grateful for the housing opportunity that allowed her to move into a home and continue working locally as a physical therapist. Though Hamilton supports the arts, she was confused why the development process was geared toward artists.

“So, yeah, it didn’t help 30 artists, but it helped 30 people who are now part of the community. So even if they weren’t part of it at the beginning, they now are a part of our community. So I think that it’s extremely beneficial,” Hamilton said.

Clark said he was originally disappointed the project couldn’t select for artists, but is more disheartened by animosity toward tenants.

“I’ve heard a lot of the stories,” he said. “It discourages me hugely.”

Clark said it quickly became obvious during the development project that everyone, not just artists, needed affordable housing.

“Inevitably, in a project like that, there’s probably going to be a couple of people who might just be kind of riding things out on low income housing and food stamps and not really contributing to society. But it’s not our place to judge people like that, if they qualify to live there,” he said.

And he believes the space has organically housed a significant number of artists needing low- income housing, though Artspace refused to provide information on how many artists live in the building.

Silbert also believes the project helped stir up other affordable housing initiatives in the county.

“It’s a known fact that Artspace’s project has encouraged further development in that regard,” she said.

Lia Salvatierra is a journalist with Report for America, a service program that helps boost underserved areas with more reporting resources.

If you would like to contact Lia about concerns at Space to Create, please email lia@ouraynews.com.