The Garfield County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to opt in to Proposition 123, the Colorado State Affordable Housing Fund, during a work session at the board’s meeting Monday.

Community members and 3-Mile Mobile Home Park residents voiced their support for the proposition during the session, which was held less than two weeks from the Nov. 1 deadline for 2025/2026 participation.

“I know for myself, without 3-Mile Mobile Home Park, I would not have been able to grow up in such a beautiful and diverse place,” Mariah Jimenez, a longtime park resident, told the commissioners on Monday. “I urge the commissioners to opt in as well, because not only does it preserve the working class of the Valley, but it preserves the diversity that makes the Valley what it is.”

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Mobile home parks like 3-Mile, which is in unincorporated Garfield County, can benefit from Prop 123 programs, according to the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, but are unable to access funding without the county’s commitment to the program. 

3-Mile residents have been working to purchase the park since its longtime owner died in 2021, but need to make “critical improvements in the community to ensure it remains safe and affordable,” the park’s petition, signed by 42 people and submitted to the BOCC earlier this month, states. 

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“I think you lose a richness to an area if you sterilize the community by getting rid of the working class people, so if you kick us out and you get condos in, you lose something there,” said Tony O’Rourke, resident and 3-Mile Association president. “I love living there and I don’t want to leave and I’d really like to be secure that I know I own my land.” 

Prop 123, which passed in 2022, allocates a portion of the annual state income tax revenue to fund grants and loans awarded to local developers, nonprofits and governments to support affordable housing projects. Proposition programs include land banking, equity investments and services for people experiencing homelessness.

To access funding, jurisdictions must opt into the program and commit to increasing the baseline amount of affordable housing by 3% a year for two years. All six Garfield County municipalities, New Castle, Rifle, Silt, Parachute, Glenwood Springs and Carbondale, had previously opted in, but could not partner with the county for affordable housing projects using Prop 123 funds. 

Through Prop 123, $160 million was allocated for the affordable housing support and financing funds in the 2022 to 2023 fiscal year. Another $320 million in funding is estimated for 2023 to 2024. 

“I’m not really in favor of government funds for housing, that’s why Garfield County isn’t in the housing business like Pitkin County or Eagle County,” Commissioner Tom Jankovsky said. “However, these funds are there, they’ve been committed, and we go for other grants that are  supported by federal and state, so I think we need to get them.”

Garfield County must add approximately 41 affordable housing units per year for the next two years, according to the Garfield County Work Session memorandum. Units may be built or converted to affordable status. If the county does not meet the committed number of added units, it will be ineligible for funding in 2027, but can reapply for 2028/2029. 

Once 3-Mile residents purchase the park, it’s likely that 20 existing units, which will be preserved as affordable housing, will count towards the county’s quota, according to a letter of support submitted by the Roaring Fork Community Development Corporation, which currently owns the mobile park but is working to transfer ownership to residents. 

“If we say yes to this, it doesn’t mean you can’t pull back from it either,” O’Rourke told the commissioners. “At least we could just get it on the board and then we can develop it and have more conversations. And then if it seems the proper thing to do, go forward. And if it doesn’t, you have the option to bow out.”

Commissioner John Martin expressed concerns regarding funding, land use and the county’s ability to add more affordable housing units. 

“It is no guarantee you might be able to get your application through. I’m worried about not being able to partner with the housing authority to make sure that goes that way and meeting all the requirements,” Martin said. “We have to streamline our land use regulations if necessary…Plus, it concerns me into the future of how much money you’re going to have to convert from your limited general fund to a fund to help with affordable housing grant units.”

“But other than that, I’m all for these guys saving their home,” he later added. “If this is what it’s going to take, I guess we’ll have to take a leap.”