Kit Carson, Colorado – population 250 – will get a housing makeover due to a $1 million grant announced in July by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The funding will support production of sorely needed housing and clean-up in the community’s historic “Main Street” area.
The Kit Carson Main Street Affordable Housing Project will develop five detached homes for rental or homeownership, depending on the community’s needs. The grant will cover rehabilitation of two presently uninhabitable houses; construction of two new homes on empty lots; and demolition of a house on a fifth property and building of a fifth home on that site. Kit Carson Rural Development, a non-profit organization whose mission is rural economic development in the area, will manage the grant.
Amy Johnson with Kit Carson Rural Development explains that when rural communities work to recruit professionals, their “impression of the town” plays an important role, with housing, amenities, and parks and recreation all being intertwined in creating that impression. With 250 residents and a very small Main Street area, the three uninhabitable homes in Kit Carson contributed to a negative first impression of the town. That, coupled with a lack of housing for young professionals, makes recruitment a very difficult task. With five of Kit Carson’s 12 teachers nearing retirement age, recruitment of teachers is increasingly on the minds of town leaders like Johnson.
In areas all across rural Colorado, housing crops up as an impediment to recruiting professionals – not only educators, but healthcare professionals, as well. This sort of improvement project has a tremendous positive impact on how someone considering relocation perceives the community!
The path leading to this $1 million award began with Kit Carson Rural Development successfully implementing the $180,000 Prairie Park enhancement project, funded by Great Outdoors Colorado, or GOCO. Then, they turned their attention to a 6,500 square foot gas station / liquor store / auto sales and service center that had been abandoned roughly 20 years ago. In partnership with Colorado Brownfields Foundation, they were able to get funding from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to assess and clean up this blighted and polluted site, making way for a business ready site, for which the community is now actively recruiting a business to occupy. Having a proven track record of successfully completing grant-funded projects, Kit Carson Rural Development was ready when Darlene Scott with the Office of Economic Development brought the grant opportunity to the town’s attention.
A total of six grants were awarded by HUD, through their HOPE VI Main Street program. Johnson indicates that these six grantees were chosen from only 38 applicants, many of which were ineligible for various reasons. For more information on the HOPE VI Main Street program, click here.
Congratulations, Kit Carson, on this major grant award!
