IGNACIO ‒ Diane McGuffey’s new house on a quiet mesa in northwest Ignacio is a trim two-story house with handsome stucco walls, solar panels and an attached garage – a space she says is perfect for her ‒ and, most importantly, one she can afford.
McGuffey’s house is one of 10 new homes just like it. They are part of Ignacio’s Rock Creek Housing Project. Last week, the Ignacio Housing Authority and members from several county, nonprofit and financial organizations held a ribbon-cutting at the neighborhood, marking a major milestone in a multiyear effort to construct more affordable housing in the community in southeast La Plata County.
“They’re really well-built,” McGuffey said. “It’s perfect for a single person.”
McGuffey moved to Ignacio from Bayfield two years ago and bought a house on Maple Street. But it wasn’t the right fit, and in January she began looking for a new option. A local real estate agent suggested she look into the Rock Creek houses.
“I was trying to find something more affordable, and so I went through a process where you have to go to class and they try to figure out where you fit into the pieces,” McGuffey said. “And it worked out great. They were a lot of help.”
McGuffey started going to Durango nonprofit HomesFund classes, where she learned she made below the 140% of La Plata County’s average median income – a requirement for anyone looking to buy one of the houses in Rock Springs, said Ignacio Town Manager Mark Garcia. That requirement, Garcia said, is meant to keep the houses open to community members who may not otherwise be able to afford a home.
“It’s a mix of people we were hoping to provide housing for,” Garcia said. “It’s an affordable workforce housing project, so it’s been a good mix of teachers and some retired folks that are downsizing and looking for easier housing needs, and so that’s worked for them.”
Garcia said the project has been in the works since 2020, when Ignacio’s town board made a strategic plan that included securing more affordable housing to ensure lower-income community members could live and work in Ignacio or La Plata County.
By 2023, the housing authority began applying for grant funding for the project, including $2 million from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs’ Innovative Housing Incentive Program and $700,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds, Garcia said.
“With those dollars, we completed all the infrastructure – roads, all the utilities, sidewalks, curbs, gutters, asphalt,” Garcia said. “Then we secured financing through First Southwest Bank and started construction, and phase one has 10 homes.”
The houses were built by Buena Vista-based modular builder Fading West. Phase two, Garcia said, will have another 11 homes available for purchase, though the town of Ignacio will buy three to rent to teachers at local schools as employee housing, he said.
“The Ignacio Housing Authority has been the lead after we started the project and the goal and the intent was just to provide housing for workforce, teachers, first responders and those that are looking for some housing alternatives,” Garcia said.
Garcia said HomesFund has been helpful through the process of building the houses.
“They have been instrumental in working with our homebuyers to first make sure they qualify for the program,” Garcia said.
HomesFund helped secure more than $500,000 for homebuyers and helping them buy down their mortgages with those dollars, Garcia said.
After learning she qualified for the affordable housing development, McGuffey moved into her new home in July. Being able to stay in Ignacio, she said, has been nice.
“I wanted to be in Ignacio because son lives in Arboles and I wanted to be close to him and away from Durango,” McGuffey said. “Ignacio is very much a tight-knit community, and you have better facilities than anywhere else. So it’s really nice.”
sedmondson@durangoherald.com
