El Paso County community development analyst Randi Davis was inspired to help build an affordable housing tool after driving past a vacant sign in Shadow Wood Chalet, an apartment complex with mixed affordable and market-price units.

“When I was a single mom looking for housing, I would have loved to live over there,” she said.

Davis is hoping the county’s new affordable housing directory will help make it easier for residents to find options. She said that privately owned developments required to supply affordable units through government funding are especially hard to find. 

The new tool maps out affordable housing across the county and includes both public and subsidized private developments. 

“When people are out there looking for affordable housing, they probably already applied to Colorado Springs Housing Authority,” she said. 

El Paso County’s ‘Mission Impossible’ collective for families in deep trouble

Users can single out housing authority developments, those run by the large housing nonprofit Greccio Housing, and subsidized developments. Clicking on an option shows users the type of housing, whether it caters to certain demographics like the elderly, along with providing the total amount of units and contact information. 

The map does not show vacancies, however. 

“It gives you a resource, a way to call all of these places and find out,” she said. 

The map is a tool to navigate an increasingly competitive affordable housing market. A 2024 report by the Common Sense Institute found a housing deficit in Colorado Springs within the range of 16,554 to 27,360 units. Affordable housing prices are can be based on different metrics, including an applicant’s income and the average income for the area of the development. 

Tiny home complex for homeless young adults nears buildout in Colorado Springs

The vacant sign outside Shadow Wood Chalet may be less promising than it seems.

Danielle Falton, an assistant property manager with ComCap Management, said that all the affordable units are currently full. While turnover is high, she said a wait list for a unit is currently 15 people long. Prospective tenants must reapply for the wait list every 60 to 90 days. 

The property management company’s other two developments with affordable units, Chestnut Glenn Townhomes and Fir Tree Apartments, are similarly full. 

Davis said she hoped the tool would help affordable housing advocates understand the complete picture. Information on subsidized housing units also shows the expiration date after which owners are no longer required to provide a percentage of affordable units.

That period is typically 30 years. The 120-unit Hampton Village Apartments in the Broadmoor area, for example, will no longer be required to have affordable units starting next year, according to the site.

Construction marches on for new low-income senior apartments in Colorado Springs

“This is also a resource for our affordable housing providers who might want to snatch up those places if it’s possible,” she said. 

The map also makes geographical deficits evident. The vast majority of options are inside Colorado Springs, with a handful available in Fountain and Monument. Though funds are available through the county, Davis said that rural affordable housing was difficult to finance.  

Davis said the next update of the list at the end of the year will have at least two additions. One is a 50-unit senior affordable housing development funded by Silver Key Senior Services. The other is the 75-unit Paloma Gardens, a senior housing project of the nonprofit Volunteers of America National Services. Both are in southeast Colorado Springs.  

“The need is huge in our community,” Davis said.