With the 24 affordable apartments that got a nod from county officials last week, Mountainlands Community Housing Trust will increase its total in Silver Creek Village to nearly 150 units — a notable contribution to a resource officials say is in dire need in the county.
While other proposed developments are more prominently in the public eye, like the similarly sized proposal for the Tech Center land that is just one interstate exit away, the neighborhood-sized Silver Creek Village development southeast of the U.S. 40-Interstate 80 interchange keeps steadily adding homes.
The full plan calls for 1,290 units with 330 earmarked as affordable, offered both for sale and for rent. It was proposed more than 20 years ago and was approved after many years working through the county’s approval process. It can be seen to reflect the intentions of county elected officials in the 2000s and 2010s, and now it is being built.
The Snyderville Basin Planning Commission last week forwarded a positive recommendation to the county manager for a final site plan of a 24-unit apartment building.
The project is to be called “Mineros,” Spanish for “miners,” the first Spanish-language name for a Mountainlands development. It is targeted to those making at or below 50% of the area’s median income, the measuring stick used to determine affordability.
The area median income in 2021 is just under $85,000 for one person, meaning the apartments will be available to those who make about $42,000 or less. The income limits increase for larger households.
Pat Matheson, the housing nonprofit’s executive director, said the Mineros project includes one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom units, with the larger offerings targeting a particular need in the community.
Mountainlands plans to finance the project largely with federal tax credits, which must be won in a competitive application process. There are other ways to finance the project, Matheson said, but the low-income housing tax credits appear to be critical. Other developers who have applied for affordable housing projects have said they would only be able to achieve the low rent levels if they are granted the credits.
Matheson said the firm would know in December whether the project is awarded the credits, and in a best-case scenario could be building next summer.
Mineros is one of several projects the nonprofit is pursuing in Silver Creek Village. A 64-unit project called Central Village Condominiums just received a certificate of occupancy for the second of its two buildings, Matheson told the commission.
“People are moving in,” he said. “I literally just helped a guy move a couch up the stairs.”
Another project, which is under construction on an adjacent piece of land, involves 40 apartments. The first building is set to be completed by Thanksgiving, Matheson said, with the second to be finished this winter.
He indicated there is no shortage of demand for affordable places to live.
“Just a couple weeks ago we started building a wait list for tenants. The first building is all the way full with tenants who have provided income and employment documentation, and then we’re just building a wait list for the second building and haven’t committed those units to any tenants yet, though there’s enough there to fill that building,” he said.
Commissioner Ryan Dickey, who is also a real estate agent, lauded the work Mountainlands does, saying he often has market-rate clients who ask about the nonprofit’s projects while on tours through Silver Creek Village.
“I have to explain to them it’s the affordable building,” Dickey said. “The buildings look great.”
Matheson said he isn’t sure if this project will be the nonprofit’s last in Silver Creek Village. Other firms, including Habitat for Humanity and individual housing developers, are contributing affordable housing, per the agreement that governs the development.
This summer, County Planner Jennifer Strader said that any new development that is approved for Silver Creek Village must offer 25% of the units as affordable options.
If there’s a 12-unit subdivision, three of those must be affordable, she said.
The development is also the site of a sort of affordable housing experiment in Summit County. The county is allowing the workforce housing requirement to be fulfilled in some cases by accessory dwelling units, like basement lock-offs or mother-in-law apartments.
Those units will have to be deed restricted, like other affordable housing units in the development, and the single-family homeowner would act as the landlord. It is unclear how many units of that type will be offered.
Matheson said the progress in developing affordable housing there might see the total obligation built shortly.
“If development remains strong, I would suspect all 330 units would be built within the next three to four years,” he said.