We love the San Luis Valley and want living here to be affordable for everyone.
We sustain vibrant, durable communities in Colorado’s San Luis Valley by creating homes that remain permanently affordable to modest income residents whose needs are not met by the traditional housing market.
Why we created the Rio Grande Community Trust
The Rio Grande Community Trust (RGCT), incorporated in January 2022 and designated as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization by the IRS in March 2023, is a community focused, non-profit Community Land Trust (CLT).
The CLT model is a proven, practical, and efficient approach to affordability and can maintain the diverse character of the SLV. Our goal is to support long term San Luis Valley (SLV) community viability by securing affordable homeownership and accessible business opportunities for those of modest means.
We value accountability, connection, fairness, durability, and grace.
We love the San Luis Valley and want to sustain vibrant, durable communities by creating homes and commercial properties that remain permanently affordable. As the SLV grows, many people who are the backbone of our communities are at risk of being left behind and pushed out. We’re part of the solution.
Board of Directors
Martha Williamson, Andrew Atchley, and Laura Anzalone—the founding members of the Rio Grande Community Trust—could all see a future in which their community went the way of so many other areas, where housing costs eventually displace the people who make the community. Martha moved to the San Luis Valley from Jackson, WY, and Laura moved from McCall, ID, where they both felt first-hand the impacts of housing costs that had long been absurd. In Rio Grande County 10 years ago, they found a place where all kinds of people could live next to each other and the cost of living wasn’t forcing people into heartbreaking choices, extended commutes, or piling on roommates. This started to change over the years and the pace accelerated when the pandemic shook up people's snow globes with many deciding to resettle outside of urban areas. The writing was on the wall. They approached Andrew Atchley, who sees what can happen as housing costs rise out of reach in cities and rural resort communities every day. Together, they decided to take a step towards changing a trajectory.
Martha Williamson
BOARD PRESIDENT
As a skilled problem solver and longtime community advocate, Martha leads the operations of Rio Grande Community Trust, a role in which she helps create affordable homeownership solutions for San Luis Valley residents. Martha has had an extensive career with the US Forest Service—a career that brought her to the Valley and fostered a broad perspective on connecting people to place. In her current position as an emergency management technical advisor with USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance and the US Forest Service, she supports other countries' national disaster management agencies in building their response capacity.
Previously, as the district ranger with the Rio Grande National Forest, she balanced multiple-use, often conflicting demands on national forest resources while ensuring the long-term health and viability of the almost one million acres of public land in her care. Her leadership, crisis management, and community collaboration have been recognized through more than a dozen awards including, in 2020, a nomination by her employees for the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable US Forest Service Legends Award.
Martha is grateful that what began as three people hungry to make a difference is growing into an organization poised to ensure long-term affordable homeownership in her community. Martha holds a Master of Science degree in forestry from the University of Montana and a Bachelor of Arts in chemistry and public policy analysis from the University of North Carolina. She recently got hooked by the ocean and pottery, and she's committed to eating all the spinach in her garden.
Andrew Atchley
TREASURER
A tireless advocate of affordable housing in Colorado, Andrew spent the first several years of his career working as a young bike messenger before realizing that he did not want to be a middle-aged bike messenger. Fifteen years later, affordable housing has sunk its claws into him. After studying architecture, he transitioned into the field of affordable housing, initially managing rental assistance vouchers before moving into affordable housing development. In his early development years, he worked on funding applications for large supportive housing projects with Colorado Coalition for the Homeless and managed the development of a supportive housing project with Archway Housing & Services. Since 2018, he has worked at the Colorado Department of Local Affairs in the Division of Housing. He started there as a housing development specialist covering the San Luis Valley, happily moved to Rio Grande County, and hasn’t looked back. His dedication to affordable housing solutions in rural Colorado brought him two promotions, way too many meetings, and an enduring commitment to making sure people can afford to live where they work.
In his current role as the housing development manager, Andrew is involved in the Division of Housing’s affordable housing funding all over the state. Across his many roles, and especially as a founding member of the Rio Grande Community Trust, he’s made it his purpose to bring as much housing investment as possible into rural Colorado broadly and the San Luis Valley specifically. He is passionate about creating and maintaining housing affordability in his own community.
Andrew holds a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Colorado and a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology from Westminster College. When he’s not working or volunteering on something related to affordable housing, you can find him fly fishing in the valley’s rivers and creeks, riding on the valley’s roads and trails, or staring at the valley’s vistas.
William (Skip) Schoen
BOARD MEMBER
Skip joined the Rio Grande Community Trust in 2024 to help support affordable housing opportunities in Rio Grande County and the San Luis Valley. He began his career in the United States Marine Corps Reserve in 1989. After completing his training and education early, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1995 and embarked on a 27-year active-duty career as a Marine Corps Logistics Officer. Throughout his distinguished career, Skip served in various capacities across the country and around the world.
After retiring from the Marine Corps in 2022, Skip’s dedication to public service remained steadfast. In 2023, he was appointed as the Rio Grande County Administrator, a position in which he continues to serve and one in which he emphasizes communication, teamwork, and transparency across multiple departments, taking leadership skills from his military career and applying them in county government.
Skip holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Colorado State University. Having spent much of his childhood at his grandparents’ home in South Fork, he knew he wanted to retire in Rio Grande County. In 2022, he and his wife, Diane, fulfilled their 33-year dream of returning to the family property and becoming active members of the Rio Grande County community. Outside of work, Skip is an avid skier, snowboarder, and hiker. He also enjoys kayaking, mountain biking, and increasing his involvement in the community.
Loren Howard
BOARD MEMBER
Loren is driven by a constant commitment to doing what was right for those around him, a principle that informed his leadership skills throughout his career and one he continues to uphold in retirement. He concluded his career in the utilities industry in 2023 as the chief executive officer of the San Luis Valley Rural Electric Cooperative, a position he held for eleven years. In addition to making sure that members always had reliable power in their homes, Loren oversaw the introduction of broadband in the San Luis Valley and the launch of Ciello, the region’s first fiber optic broadband internet service provider. Upon retiring, Loren successfully ran for a seat on Monte Vista’s City Council, where he currently serves.
Prior to his move to Monte Vista in 2011, Loren spent 25 years with the Holland Board of Public Works in Holland, Michigan, served 22 years in the United States Coast Guard, and held positions with Packaging Corporation of America, Century Boat Company, and the Colorado Department of Transportation. Loren’s decision to get involved with the Rio Grande Community Trust stems from his continuing interest in making the San Luis Valley’s communities a top location to work and live.
Loren holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Western Michigan University, a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan Technical University, and is a registered professional engineer in Colorado. In retirement, he is finding time to do the things he enjoys the most: rebuilding jeeps, hiking, rock climbing, and spending time with his wife, children, and eight lively grandchildren.
Community Support
We are grateful for the support of these individual donors and local entities:
What We Do
Making Homeownership More Affordable
We purchase land, we work with builders and developers to build or rehab houses, and we work directly with buyers to create a path to ownership that ensures properties remain within reach in the long term.
Instead of paying somebody else's mortgage, people want to gain financial equity and stabilize their housing costs through ownership. The Rio Grande Community Trust's shared-equity homeownership program gives people access to an additional rung on the housing ladder. Using 99-year deed restrictions or ground leases following the Community Land Trust model, the RGCT stewards these permanently affordable homes as community assets retained in perpetuity for future generations.
Each homeowner builds some equity while enjoying the stability and security of having their own place. Local businesses benefit from having reliable employees who can also participate in the social fabric. The community benefits from having a tier of homes that will always be affordable.
Lowering Commercial Real Estate Lease Costs
We also purchase commercial real estate and lease it to community businesses who wouldn’t otherwise be able to set up shop in the towns that so dearly need them.
Community Economic Opportunity
Commercial real estate lease costs can limit opportunities for community business ventures, for example, the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker.
How We Help
RGCT helps to lower commercial lease costs by purchasing commercial space and using a traditional commercial real estate lease model. The focus is on those individuals and entities serving a community purpose precluded from establishing themselves due to market rate lease costs.
Need for Affordable Homeownership
The 2021 SLV Housing Needs Assessment identified a need for 70% of for-sale homes to be affordable to 120% Area Median Income (AMI) and below in order to meet valley-wide needs through 2026. The 2021 SLV Housing Needs Assessment identified that in 2021 only 45% of real estate listings valley-wide (63 of 141) were affordable to 120% AMI and below.
Need for Perpetual Affordability
SLV wages are on a flatter trajectory than house prices. The gap between SLV incomes and market rate housing will not retain or attract qualified and skilled employees. remain too great to have the regular housing market meet needs in the future.
How We Help
-
RGCT buys land and builds a house, rehabs an existing one, or partners with a developer
-
RGCT either enters into partnership with the homeowner through a deed restriction or retains ownership of the land and sells improvements (house) to qualified buyers.
Qualifications:
We work with people making between 80-120% of the Area Median Income (AMI). Individual homes will be built or rehabbed with a target AMI in mind (for example 100%). Sale price will be determined based on a 20% housing cost burden for that AMI,
A 99-year renewable ground lease or deed restriction between RGCT and the homeowner dictates an appreciation cap, guaranteeing perpetual affordability.
Frequently Asked Questions
Minimizing land acquisition and construction costs while producing a solid, efficient, safe home further shrinks the gap to cover. We envision this occurring in several ways:
- Land donation or below-market sale incentivized by tax deductions.
- Pursuing property tax exemption for land held by RGCT.
- Partnership with construction management and industrial arts school programs, such as COPERR https://coag.gov/coperr/
- Partnerships with self-help affordable homeownership organizations
Homeowners pursue traditional mortgages or secure down payment assistance through other entities in order to finance their purchase at the target sale price.
Current Project Highlights
sawmillmeadowvillage.com
Contact us with project ideas!