Thistle keeps affordable-home dream alive

BOULDER — When housing prices soar, people in low-paying occupations see the American dream of home ownership vaporize.

To keep those dreams alive, a Boulder non-profit is working to ensure that some housing options remain open to them. Named after the hardy plant that survives and multiplies even in dire circumstances, Thistle Community Housing is a charitable organization that creates and permanently protects affordable rentals and homes for families, single parents, the elderly and people with disabilities.

“Why should people be penalized for their career choices,´ said Aaron Miripol, executive director of Thistle. He and his 12-person staff develop, manage and market more than 200 rental homes and 70 single-family dwellings in Longmont, Boulder, Lafayette and other parts of Boulder County. The group serves a diverse range of people with no income or low to moderate income. “More than 95 percent of our residents are employed in the community as teachers, nurses, wait staff, office clerks, bank tellers, firemen, laborers and government workers,” Miripol said.

Thistle is not an organization for the homeless, but for working people and people with physical and mental disabilities who could not afford to live in Boulder County without help, he said.

In 1999, Thistle built its largest community housing development to date — the 76 homes in pedestrian-oriented Buena Vista at 18th and Yarmouth streets in north Boulder. “It’s our flagship project and our biggest deal yet at $3.7 million,” Miripol said. The property will be dedicated 2 p.m., Tuesday, April 18. Congressman Mark Udall will be the keynote speaker.

“Besides being affordable, we built Buena Vista green, with energy efficiency in mind,” Miripol said. “We considered how to help residents with heating and cooling expenses, and all the homes are Energy Star rated.” The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy award the Energy Star label to houses that exceed the minimum national energy efficiency standards.

“Lenders know an energy-efficient house will have lower utility bills, so the loan-to-value can be higher. It helps people qualify for their loans,” he said. Thistle also included a three-year RTD Eco Pass for each Buena Vista household member.

In addition to affordable home ownership, affordable rentals are a big part of Thistle’s philosophy. “By providing residents with properties they can rent for less than 35 percent of their income, Thistle gives people the opportunity to save money so they can buy a home and become self-sufficient,” Miripol said.

In addition to providing much needed low-income housing, Thistle promotes public policies that keep land and buildings affordable in perpetuity. “We do it by being a model, by showing the community and officials in city and county government that it works,” Miripol said. The organization also has a Community Land Trust, which allows it to keep the land while selling the structure on it.

The CLT program provides homes for sale at reduced prices for people earning less than 80 percent of the federally determined Area Median Income ($68,700 in Boulder), which works out to be about $41,000. Using public and private grants, the CLT buys land and leases it to home buyers for 99 years with the option to renew the land lease for another 99 years. In exchange for CLT’s help, the home buyers agree to live in the home and if they resell it, to sell it as affordable housing. The selling price limitation allows the home buyers to recover their equity and 25 percent of the home’s appreciation. Thistle keeps an interested-buyers list to contact people when CLT homes become available.

Miripol and his staff also serve as technical assistants helping local groups manage property and rehabilitate existing buildings with capital improvements. “We’re working with a mobile home park now, advising them how to upgrade and to keep the park in affordable housing,” he said.

One of Thistle’s goals is to be operationally self-sufficient so that its rental income pays for its entire operation. In order to continue buying property for affordable housing, however, Thistle needs federal pass-through money and other federal, state and local grants. It also needs money from foundations, individuals and groups that want to keep Boulder and adjacent counties a diverse community economically.

“Our management philosophy is to maximize resident participation, responsibility and sense of cooperation and to create a continuum of housing opportunities, from low-cost rentals to permanently affordable housing for owner occupancy,” Miripol said.

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