Clients: City and County of Pueblo (CO)

The City and County of Pueblo retained Gruen Gruen + Associates (GG+A) to conduct a comprehensive housing needs analysis and to identify strategic policy actions to mitigate the deficiencies in meeting housing needs. GG+A began by reviewing past comprehensive plans, citizen surveys, and other documents to obtain background and perspective on previous housing and economic development goals, population and household and housing conditions, and growth projections as well as public housing characteristics. GG+A analyzed historical household and population change, the economic base, labor force trends, and household characteristics of Pueblo County. GG+A reviewed the Pueblo County housing inventory and patterns of change including apartment and for-sale housing market conditions and housing costs. GG+A identified the number of cost-burdened households and identified the existing shortfall or “gap” in the amount of affordable housing.

More than 20 interviews with housing developers, home builders, real estate brokers, affordable housing experts, and other knowledgeable individuals were completed to assess Pueblo’s position in the regional housing market and to obtain information and insight about neighborhood trends, advantages and disadvantages of Pueblo as a housing location, geographic origins and types of households attracted to Pueblo, sources of supply competition, and housing product preferences. We also directed interviews with builders to obtaining information on the real estate economics of new housing development.

GG+A designed and analyzed a survey of Pueblo residents to identify housing patterns, housing satisfaction and preferences, plans to move, and type and cost of housing preferred as well as the demographic, household, employment and socio-economic characteristics of survey respondents. An employment growth projection for Pueblo County and the regional commute shed was prepared as a basis to estimate the additional labor force that will require housing. GG+A projected new workforce and senior households in Pueblo County, based upon the forecast employment growth and anticipated growth in population age 65-years or older. Future housing needs were expressed by tenure and income, and GG+A compared forecast housing demand to the present and likely future supply of housing.

GG+A evaluated the real estate economics of developing typical types of housing in the City and County of Pueblo to support inferences about which housing products (and price points) will be feasible for the private market to supply in response to demand, and what housing needs are likely to be served by the private market in sufficient quantities. The existing and future housing needs and policies and actions likely to best encourage the production of housing, positive neighborhood change, and increases in housing quality were detailed in an extensive report, executive summary, Powerpoint slide deck and presentations made to the City Council and other stakeholders such as the community coalition on housing and homelessness.

Final Report: https://www.pueblo.us/DocumentCenter/View/30267/Pueblo—Final-Housing-Assessment-and-Strategy-Report-with-Appendices?bidId=