Town Council to weigh $28.85 million employee housing plan, still short of goal

The Town Council will decide whether to accept a ten-year, $28.85 million employee housing strategy that adds just 37 new housing placements, works out to about $779,730 per placement, and by staff's own math still leaves the Town housing only 53% of its year-round employees by fiscal 2035 staff report, short of the 70% goal Council set. The plan spends $22.5 million on new construction (three homes on Flat Creek Drive, about 12 units at the START facility, three purchased homes, and the Nelson Drive rights of rental), $5.3 million on down payment assistance for employees, and $1 million fixing up the Town's 17 existing employee units, with rents there adjusted for condition starting July 1, 2027. Staff recommends against a cash stipend for employees even though 68% of surveyed workers asked for one: an illustrative $1,500-a-month stipend for 150 year-round workers would run $2.7 million a year and leave the Town owning nothing permanent. The existing $500-a-month stipend for new patrol officers would be phased out. Thirteen million dollars of the plan's funding is already secured; the remaining $16 million depends on a 2028 sales tax vote and a $1 million-a-year General Fund commitment starting in fiscal 2030.

Council set the 70% housing target and the strategy's eight guiding objectives at a May 18, 2026 workshop, where it directed staff to proceed under a $34,000 Navigate LLC contract. Closing the gap to 70% would take about $17 million more than the plan currently has, and staff says no funding source for that has been identified.