This Colorado Ski Town Saves 75% of its Full-time Housing for Local Workers

About three-quarters of full-time homes in Breckenridge, Colorado are deed-restricted to the local workforce, defined as people who work in the town for 30 or more hours per week. As Susan Shain explains in High Country News, “And, since Breckenridge passed a $50 million housing plan in 2022, more than 400 new deed-restricted units have been built. In the next four years, the town expects to add 300 more — a substantial increase in housing stock, given that Breckenridge has only about 5,000 full-time residents.”

The focus on workforce housing is crucial in a community where the average home listing price is $1.85 million. To make it work, the town made a deal with developers looking to build outside the town’s borders: “The town would annex the property, making city services available — and thus development more attractive — if the developers kept 80% of the units deed-restricted for locals.”

Breckenridge also uses a land bank to purchase land for future development, and created a city program that buys available units and sells them as deed-restricted housing to local workers. “Today, about 1,700 of the estimated 2,300 resident-occupied homes in Breckenridge are deed-restricted for the local workforce.”

Even with all these efforts, the town needs about 1,200 more units to accommodate demand. “And even when the town provides housing, the area’s high real estate values and high construction costs mean that the housing doesn’t always seem affordable.”