Council approves housing project

Loveland’s City Council voted unanimously to donate land and grant an af fordable housing designation to the proposed St. Valentine Apar tments development Tuesday night.

The 54-unit supporting housing project, which would be located northeast of the Police and Courts Building on Hayes Avenue, would help those transitioning out of homelessness through affordability — tenants would pay up to 30% of their income or at least $25 per month — as well as by offering case management.

The council’s unanimous “yes” on the project means the city will donate the 4-acre vacant parcel, which Justin Raddatz of project sponsor Archdiocesan Housing said is valued around $425,000, so long as the project receives other funding and land use approvals.

By officially designating the project as affordable housing, the council also locked in 2020 fees for future construction while also laying the groundwork for Archdiocesan Housing to request an estimated $1-1.3 million in fee waivers in the future.

The city will also seek to amend an agreement with Larimer County that limits use of the land to government and police functions. City Attorney Moses Garcia said in response to a question from Ward IV councilor Dave Clark that the county is open to making the change.

Councilors unilaterally spoke in support of the project and

expressed hope that it would help the city put a dent in its documented homeless population of 157.

“I think this will be a great addition to our community,” Ward III councilor Steve Olson said, comparing it favorably to the Redtail Ponds supportive housing community in Fort Collins.

Olson ser ves as the council’s liaison to the Loveland Affordable Housing Commission, which voted unanimously to recommend the project and the affordable housing designation to the council.

Ward II councilor Kathi Wright also praised the project, even as she warned fellow councilors not to see it as the “be-all, end-all” solution to homelessness in Loveland.

“This is one piece of the puzzle,” she said. “I find this to be a blessing for our community.”

Senior development manager Christian Pritchett and project manager Oriana Sanchez of Blueline Development spoke alongside Raddatz Tuesday night, sharing details of the project as well as answers to questions that were raised during a series of three meetings with neighbors.

Resident concerns revolved mostly around the additional traffic and crime that the apar tment complex could bring.

Pritchett mentioned a study of other Front Range suppor tive housing projects showed that less than 7% of residents would be expected to have cars due to their low income.

He also brought up an around-the-clock security detail that would be based at the site as well as other security features such as a single point of entry and security cameras.

“We’ll have the ability to monitor the entire site and make sure illegal activity isn’t happening in that area,” he said.

He said sex of fenders and those convicted of arson, violent felonies and methamphetamine-related crimes would not be eligible to lease at St. Valentine.

Raddatz also shared how the project got its name.

“Historically, Catholic Charities has named projects after different saints,” he said. “With the history of Loveland, and the thousands of thousands of letters that come through the city each year on Valentine’s Day, and Valentine’s Day is one of the biggest days of the year, it made sense. Valentine himself was the patron saint of lovers.”

After Raddatz shared the results of a study conducted in Denver that showed supportive housing saved the city $32,000 per tenant in law enforcement and healthcare costs, Ward III councilor John Fogle questioned whether Loveland’s savings would be comparable. The city does not foot the bill for homeless residents seeking medical care.

Director Alison Hade of the Loveland Community Partnership Office said the city would at least see cost savings from locking up fewer homeless people, alleging that 3-15 people living on the streets are arrested in Loveland ever y day.

She went on to say that, while the project had the potential to nearly halve the city’s homeless population, as the city grows, it will have to expand its services proportionately, and that current services are not enough to get people off of the streets.

“Even though we have a lot of great service providers, we don’t have the type of ser vice providers that put an end to someone’s homelessness,” she said.

Many members of the public also called and emailed Tuesday both in favor of and opposing the project.

Angela Davis, who said she lives nearby on Eighth Street, called in to say she and her neighbors were worried that crime could spike in the area around the project site.

“This year alone, we’ve had our vehicles broken into already three times,” she said. “When you put something like this so close to the (police) station, it doesn’t always reap the same benefits that you think it will.”

Another caller, Lori Bretthauer, who said she works at Sunrise Loveland Community Health Center ceded time by multiple residents to recommend the development.

“I am grateful to reside in a community that is not only willing to painfully peer into the suffering lives of the underserved, but readily embrace the creation of a solution,” she said. “I have personally obser ved the suf fering of our homeless population here in Loveland. They know they are not wanted. Many are ashamed of their situation, and far too many are simply incapable of caring for themselves.”

The project could break ground as soon as 2022 and welcome its first tenants in 2023, according to Archdiocesan Housing.