Cozy. Comfortable. And, completely their own.

That’s the feeling of home ownership, and for 120 families in La Plata County the road to home ownership wasn’t traveled alone.

“We’re here to make it possible,” said Karen Iverson, executive director for the Regional Housing Alliance, a local organization celebrating 10 years of helping local families become first-time homebuyers.

The Alliance offers mortgage assistance and homebuyer assistance classes, works to develop affordable rental units, and championed the City’s Fair Share Ordinance in 2008, which requires 16 percent of new residential development be affordable.

“Our mission is to create affordable housing opportunities,” Iverson explained.

As a potential first-time homebuyer, Irene Sullivan had no idea what the process involved.

For her, the first step was taking the free homebuyer class, which the Alliance requires of anyone involved with its mortgage assistance program.

Sullivan said they didn’t steer her toward any particular style of home or neighborhood. They only offered options, education and support.

Affordable housing isn’t a common sight in Durango’s high cost market, and it took Sullivan a good year from class to closing. In the end, she found the right fit for her life and her future, a condominium in the Horse Gulch area where she can bike to work at Mercy Family Medicine’s Horse Gulch campus.

“In hindsight, I see things happen exactly the way they were supposed to,” she said. “It couldn’t have been more perfect.”

When the Miles family first started their search for a first home, they found a local Realtor who was understanding, but still had objectives. Ultimately, they felt overwhelmed and simply set aside the idea of home ownership.

Years later, after reading about the Alliance’s homebuyer education class, they decided to take another shot at it. Marty and Debra Miles took turns, one would attend class and the other stayed home with their son.

Irene Sullivan prepares a meal in her kitchen. So far this year, the Alliance has provided more than $800,000 in loans to 27 families./Photo by Jennaye Derge

Through the Alliance’s mortgage assistance program, the two learned what to look for in a home, how inspections work, what mortgages are all about, and even received mortgage assistance.

“The class itself would have been worth our time,” Marty Miles explained, “no doubt about it.”

He said the program is filled with all kinds of hidden gems of information about the housing market and financing options they would not have discovered anywhere else.

Since purchasing their first home about 2½ years ago, he and his wife have worked to create an urban homestead, complete with gardens, a chicken coop, shed and outdoor living space. Something that wouldn’t be possible if they were renting.

“It’s such a refuge to be able to come back to our own space,” he added.

It turns out, though, the freedom to make the home their own isn’t the only benefit.

According to Miles, the monthly mortgage is actually cheaper than a rental unit. “We’re still saving money and not going broke living in Durango.”

Over the past decade, the Regional Housing Alliance has provided $3.5 million in mortgage assistance to 120 families. In fact, one in five entry-level homebuyers in La Plata County go through the Alliance.

“We’re really filling the gap between what people can afford and the market rate of a home,” Iverson explained.

In the heyday of the housing market, several community leaders in Durango recognized a rift. Tucked between low-income residents who qualified for federal assistance and high-income residents who could afford homes in Durango, existed those in the middle. They made both too much and too little.

The Alliance was created in 2004 out of the need to help those working families.

The market today is much like it was in when the Alliance first opened its doors, Iverson said. Home values in Durango are 42 percent higher than the state average and 85 percent higher than the national average, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Following the 2008 crash, the demand for housing shifted, Iverson explained. The vacancy rate in Durango is 2 percent, while 5 percent is the sign of a balanced market. Ignacio is even more competitive with a 1 percent vacancy rate.

In an effort to take on those challenges, the Alliance is working with developers and municipalities to create affordable housing units.

Along with the La Plata Homes Fund, the Alliance is helping to develop a 50-unit apartment project in Durango called Lumien Apartments, located near the junction of 32nd Street and CR 250. The site is currently under construction, and will offer one and two bedroom units with rents ranging from $350-$825 a month available to households earning less than 60 percent of the median income, which is $35,000 for a family of two.

In Ignacio, the Alliance is working on a similar project called Rock Creek Three.