A new housing development is coming to Longmont that aims to help put roofs over the heads of the city’s homeless.
Bluebird Longmont is a proposed Permanent Supportive Housing project that will provide immediate homes for 55 residents of Longmont who are experiencing homelessness, Catherine Bean, principal at Element Properties, said in an email. Element will develop and operate Bluebird Longmont.
The project is located at 2000 Sunset Way. Element should break ground in the spring of 2023 and complete the project in summer 2024, Bean said.
The Colorado Housing and Financing Authority is financing Bluebird Longmont after awarding the project with competitive 9% low-income housing tax credits. The tax credits will result in almost $5.7 million of funding, Bean said.
The city of Longmont and Longmont Housing Authority have contributed more than $3 million worth of support, including land, property tax exemption, permit fee reductions, and supportive services for residents, Bean said. Boulder County awarded the project $500,000 in Worthy Cause funding, and Element will carry both debt on the project and make a contribution to the project, she said.
The Colorado Division of Housing is contributing $4.1 million as well as 55 project-based vouchers, Bean said.
The 39,430 square foot, four-story building will include 55 one-bedroom units and associated amenities grounded in trauma-informed design, Bean said.
“A broad coalition of organizations that work with people experiencing homeless have endorsed or committed to partner with the project, and the (Element) team has encountered widespread support,” Bean said.
In 2021, 997 adults sought homeless services in Boulder County, while only two Permanent Supportive Housing projects, totalling 88 units, exist in Longmont, she said.
The architect for Bluebird Longmont is Shopworks, a nationally renowned firm known for its trauma-informed design and permanent supportive housing portfolio, Bean said. Element has completed more than 1,000 units of housing in Boulder County since 2011 with 40 units under development, she said.
Project partner Longmont Housing Authority will bring its experience working with the homeless and recently housed population and BeauxSimone will provide guidance for the project’s supportive services, vouchers, and property management, Bean said.
“Bluebird Longmont will help fill a gap in essential housing resources for our community’s most vulnerable,” Molly O’Donnell, Longmont’s Housing and Community Investment director, told BizWest.
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