There are around 40 units of deed-restricted housing units built by Park City around town.
Residents of for-sale units at two of those projects — Snow Creek Cottages and Central Park City Condominiums — have approached the council in recent years for help with rising capital maintenance fees.
On June 26 the city council held a preliminary discussion about creating a loan or grant pilot program to assist affordable housing homeowners associations (HOAs).
The council was generally supportive but asked for more specifics about how the program would work and what kind of repairs would qualify for financial assistance.
“If there are issues related to construction and delivery of these homes to affordable homeowners when the city was the developer, we absolutely need to be responsible for that, whatever that is,” Park City Councilmember Bill Ciraco said.
Snow Creek Cottages resident Sloane Johnson told the council June 26 she’s been subject to years of costly repairs due to shabby construction.
“We’ve dealt with roof leaks caused by flat roofs with no weatherproofing, solar panels with maintenance costs that don’t power our homes, and geothermal systems that are not only expensive to maintain, but fail to heat our houses when temperatures drop below zero,” Johnson said. “Sewage pumps that were installed incorrectly and fail repeatedly. We’ve had leaks and floods due to poorly installed pipes, and every time we’ve raised these concerns over the past 15 years, we’ve been met with the same dismissive message: you should be grateful.”
Park City Councilmember Tana Toly said the problems explain why the city has shifted its affordable housing strategy by partnering with private firms, rather than acting as the developer.
“I think we’re maybe learning that the city should not be in the development business when it comes to housing, but we can provide services and we can provide funding, but we should let the experts who do this on a daily basis actually be the ones at the table coming up with these solutions,” Toly said.
Park City staff were unable to find any other municipality-operated affordable HOA financial assistance programs around the country, according to a staff report.
The initial recommendation for a program involves establishing a $350,000 loan fund that HOAs could tap into over a period of five to 10 years. The council will assess the details of a pilot program in a future meeting.
Park City Municipal is a financial supporter of KPCW.
