Telluride-based Rural Homes is entering a new era of affordable housing work across the state after bringing on a new CEO and looking beyond pilot projects in Ouray and San Miguel counties.

The affordable housing nonprofit plans to construct 120 new units in various projects across Colorado in 2026, while the future of Ouray’s Waterview Homes project remains unclear.

In May, the nonprofit hired David Ware as its new CEO to join the organization’s founder and former CEO Paul Major, who has turned his efforts toward fundraising and housing policy and regulation but continues to work for Rural Homes. Major refers to himself as the founder of the organization, but Ware calls him the chief impact officer.

Ware has been involved in Rural Homes’ mission since it launched in 2022, advising the nonprofit as a longtime private developer. He spent the last 17 years as president and CEO of Denver based McStain Neighborhoods.

Major called the company one of the most successful production home-building companies in the state. Production home builders typically construct entire subdivision communities, using a limited set of design and floor plan options and maximizing efficiency, as opposed to custom home builders. Earlier in his career at McStain, Ware oversaw all of the company’s Denver home-building operations, including the redevelopment of the Gates Rubber Plant property, Lowry Air Force Base and the former Stapleton International Airport into mixed-use neighborhoods. Ware remains based on the Front Range.

“I would hold him to anybody in the state that builds homes,” Major said.

When Major established Rural Homes, he aimed to solve a clear problem: creating affordable housing for workers in the region. He wanted to create a lowcost formula that could bypass traditional inefficiencies in homebuilding. The nonprofit was born out of the Telluride Foundation, where Major formerly served as its president and CEO.

Over the past three years, Major focused Rural Homes’ efforts in southwest Colorado, constructing three neighborhoods of affordable housing in San Miguel and Ouray counties for homebuyers.

Those three projects — Wetterhorn Homes in Ridgway, Waterview Homes in Ouray and Pinon Park in Norwood — included 59 units. Though those homes provided much-needed relief for the local workforce, there were some challenges in selling the homes in those neighborhoods once they were completed.

Rural Homes plans to learn from those challenges in its next phase of developing homes.

“We sat down with the board of directors after we finished the pilot projects, and said, you know, we did some things wrong, we learned. We did some things okay. We did some things that were really impactful, that I think we can scale and build,” Ware said.

Ware said the nonprofit primarily learned that it must better understand the market demand for future projects.

Now that the final unit in Waterview is under contract, Rural Homes is rethinking its next steps, leaving the second phase of development on the 9.2-acre parcel unclear. For the time being, Ware said Rural Homes is focused on engaging stakeholders and launching new developments across the rest of Colorado.

“We’re invested in the success of the state, and we’re invested in the success to unlock affordable housing for a broader group, for the broadest group possible,” Ware said.

Developments across Colorado

After finishing its pilot projects in San Miguel and Ouray counties, Rural Homes turned its attention to building its brand and working on as many developments as possible across Colorado, with contracts to build around 120 homes in 2026.

The nonprofit is pursuing a $45 million fundraising effort to complete those projects.

“Our success in our pilots allowed us to scale up,” Major said.

“People are coming back and making a bigger commitment to us,” he said.

The nonprofit was awarded its first project outside of southwest Colorado in April. It will be responsible for developing a portion of the Salt Flats Project, a 21.8-acre site slated for between 324 and 550 new homes in Grand Junction, which will be an assortment of deed-restricted and market-rate rental and for-purchase units. Rural Homes plans to develop 47 for-purchase units for below 100% area median income.

According to a webpage dedicated to the development, the blend of affordable and market-rate housing is intentional. “By combining public investment with private development, the project creates stability for families and seniors while also encouraging new opportunities for local builders, businesses, and investors,” the webpage reads.

Ware said Rural Homes was also awarded a project in partnership with the Steamboat Springs School District, where it will build roughly 20 rental homes on a district-owned parcel. The nonprofit will build the homes and sell them to the school district, which will rent them to employees. It also has two projects slated on the Front Range to build 24 homes in Longmont and 14 homes in Louisville.

Policy and regulatory efforts

As part of expanding its reach, Rural Homes also plans to continue advocating for policy and regulatory changes with the state to improve the process for developing affordable housing.

Major is focused on those changes in his role, looking to unlock the potential of Proposition 123 money, among other opportunities.

Proposition 123 was a 2022 ballot measure approved by voters that designated 1% of state income tax revenue, about $300 million annually, to affordable housing projects.

“We’re trying to advocate for homebuilders,” Major said.

“You need to make this bill work so that it attracts more homebuilders, faster,” he said.

One example of that change is increasing the AMI cap for housing projects built with Proposition 123 affordable housing funds. Currently, that money can only be used to create developments for residents at or below 100% AMI, unless a county or municipality petitions for different AMI limits.

Ware said Rural Homes hopes to push for a standardized application for affordable housing funds to increase efficiency in applying for that money.

He also discussed the possibility of a statewide housing authority that could help more rural areas with oversight and administration of tasks like deed restrictions.

Major also said Rural Homes is looking for ways to push home-building factories to explore new or more efficient ways to build homes.

“How do you maximize the opportunity of a home?” Major said of homebuilders.

The nonprofit has used the Buena Vista Fading West manufactured home factory for its projects here, making it possible to build the communities faster on-site.

Lessons learned, future of Waterview

The second phase of the Waterview homes development north of Ouray remains unclear as Rural Homes learns from its pilot projects and takes a closer look at market demand.

“We don’t have an agenda aside from it needs to be affordable (for buyers),” Major said.

“We’re just really now trying to step back. We learned a little bit from our first phase,” Ware said about understanding market demand.

Rural Homes decided to build its first three pilot projects because land for those projects was either donated or discounted. The approach was build first, then bet on buyers showing up second, rather than building based on the market, Ware said.

“Lesson learned. Understand the market,” Ware said.

Major said a primary challenge in marketing for-purchase homes right now is high mortgage interest rates. Those interest rates make what could be an affordable home unattainable for some buyers, Major said.

In August, Major told the Plaindealer the nonprofit was looking at options for developing affordable rentals on the Waterview property.

Major said the nonprofit is still exploring the appetite for homes, beyond the findings of a city of Ouray housing needs assessment, which identified the estimated number and types of homes needed.

“Who are the buyers, are they ready (to buy), what are the limitations on that buyer pool?” Major said.

“Do they need the housing? If so, let’s roll up our sleeves and do it,” he said.

Ware said options on the table include rentals, for-purchase homes or alternative uses.

The Plaindealer asked Major if Rural Homes would ever contemplate market- rate housing on the property.

“We wouldn’t do that,” Major replied. Ware and Major said what happens with the Ouray property largely depends on whether the state changes rules around its Proposition 123 funding to allow funding for projects for higher AMI markets.

Right now, the second phase is slated for developing homes to sell to buyers who qualify at or below 120% AMI.

City Administrator Michelle Metteer met with a group including Ware earlier this month to discuss the project. Metteer said the group discussed options for changing the development plan to include lower or higher AMI caps.

Metteer said she also discussed constructing rental units with Major and former Mayor Ethan Funk, based on a 2023 city housing needs assessment that identified a scarcity of rentals.

Metteer said whatever happens on the property will be informed by that assessment, community input and the public process the development would have to go through.

Metteer said there’s no identified timeline for moving forward with the project, but the city supports continuing to develop affordable housing opportunities.

“There is a strong interest in the city to see the second phase done,” Metteer said.

“The (affordable housing) problem is definitely not solved.”