Boulder’s Thistle Housing making home ownership, rental more affordable

BOULDER — To many people, the phrase “affordable housing in Boulder County” seems like a contradiction in terms. But Aaron Miripol, executive director of Thistle Community Housing, is one person who would disagree.

“We’re doing affordable housing,” he said, “And it’s permanently affordable, for home ownership and for rentals.” Miripol defines affordable as costing about $400 per month below market value.

Founded in 1985, the 501c(3) non-profit acquires, renovates and builds rental properties and home-ownership housing throughout the county. Currently, Thistle rents 236 properties, mostly apartments, that it owns. Additionally, the non-profit owns the land under 72 homes that Thistle, through a legal arrangement called a community land trust, has made permanently affordable.

Thistle employs 17 people full-time and several part-timers. Thistle’s 2000 revenue was “a little above half a million,” Miripol said. “Expenses are in the same ballpark.”

To qualify for renting a Thistle apartment, a tenant must meet income requirements. For qualified tenants, Thistle simply rents one of the units it owns at a below-market rate.

Keeping individually owned homes affordable requires more maneuvering. To qualify for buying a home, applicants must meet income requirements, have at least $2,000 available for a down payment, and take approved training courses, among other requirements. For a two-adult household, the combined income must be less than $42,000 for most homes.

Then, Thistle uses something called a community land trust to keep homes affordable.

“Community land trust is a way we can acquire land and lease the land for 99 years to the home owner,´ said Mary Golden, a representative of Thistle. In such an arrangement, the home owner owns the house structure, but Thistle owns the land underneath the house. By using such an arrangement, Thistle can restrict appreciation of the property, which it holds to between 18 and 25 percent maximum. Thus, when a home owner sells the property, the home usually remains below market value.

“Thistle is subject to the whims of the market,” Golden said, “But because of the subsidy that goes into making housing permanently affordable, the price they pay is usually under market.”

Thistle has learned over the years how to cut corners and build partnerships to make housing affordable. “We don’t buy grade-A rental properties,” Miripol said. “We buy B, average ones that might need new windows, carpeting and appliances.”

Building partnerships also has helped the non-profit. “It takes a lot of partnerships,” Miripol said. “Banks give us excellent financing. Municipalities, construction companies and others help us out.”

One of Thistle’s goals is to make housing affordable for people who live in the community, not merely to attract more people into the community.

“Forty-eight of the 49 who bought from Buena Vista, (a Thistle community), were already working and living in the community,” Miripol said. “They didn’t come from somewhere else.”

Thistle primarily advertises by word-of-mouth, a form of publicity that is “for people already living here and trying to stay here,” Miripol said.

This line of thought emphasizes the non-profit’s agenda of increasing affordability.

“Most of our work has been acquiring new properties, not new construction,” Miripol said.

Thistle also boosts home ownership. “We want people to have the opportunity to go from rentals to ownership,” Miripol said. “Not everyone wants to own, but for many, it’s a fundamental part of our lives in America.”

For Michael Dombrowski, a library technician for the University of Colorado, Thistle provided a means of owning his own home in September 1999.

“A lot of people are looking for a good place to live where they can afford it,” he said. Dombrowski was surprised that Thistle required a first-time buyer’s class as part of qualifying. “They wanted us to be educated,” he said.

Two years later, Dombrowski married his neighbor, Alice Clark, and sold his home to move in with his bride. Dombrowski was a little disappointed about how the sale went.

“The people who came in to buy it didn’t have to be pre-qualified,” he said. “It took the person I sold it to a while to get financing.”

Despite this delay, Dombrowski has been happy with his experience overall. “They offer a lot of people an opportunity to buy a home,” he said.

Employers in education and health care are meeting with Thistle to see if they can partner up to help employees such as Dombrowski.

Darryl Brown, director of cardiopulmonary-neurodiagnostics at Boulder Community Hospital, sees tremendous benefit to employers and employees through such partnerships.

“People could find housing they could afford within the community,” he said. “It’s very important in health care because of call-back situations. They need to be close to the hospital.”

Employers also would benefit from affordable housing partnerships. “It would decrease the amount of commuting,” Brown said. “We’re responsible in our commitment to the environment.

“And if you expect people to move into the community, this would have a big impact on recruiting and retention,” he said. “Someone like Thistle could work with human resources as part of a recruitment package.”

Boulder Community Hospital administration and the various housing groups with whom they have met are still considering the aspects of subsidization to pay for the housing.

Miripol sees affordable housing on a broader scope than a favor to employers and their staff.

“I believe that what we do is community investments,” Miripol said.

on Facebook on LinkedIn