{"id":15591,"date":"2025-11-18T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/first-phase-of-affordable-housing-project-in-ignacio-complete\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:49:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:49:19","slug":"first-phase-of-affordable-housing-project-in-ignacio-complete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/first-phase-of-affordable-housing-project-in-ignacio-complete\/","title":{"rendered":"First phase of affordable housing project in Ignacio complete"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Construction
Construction continues on the Rock Creek Housing Project in northwest Igancio on Thursday with some residents having moved into their new homes. Each home is energy-efficient with rooftop solar. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

IGNACIO \u2012 Diane McGuffey\u2019s new house on a quiet mesa in northwest Ignacio is a trim two-story house with handsome stucco walls, solar panels and an attached garage \u2013 a space she says is perfect for her \u2012 and, most importantly, one she can afford.<\/p>\n

McGuffey\u2019s house is one of 10 new homes just like it. They are part of Ignacio\u2019s Rock Creek Housing Project<\/a>. Last week, the Ignacio Housing Authority and members from several county, nonprofit and financial organizations held a ribbon-cutting at the neighborhood, marking a major milestone in a multiyear effort to construct more affordable housing in the community in southeast La Plata County.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re really well-built,\u201d McGuffey said. \u201cIt\u2019s perfect for a single person.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGuffey moved to Ignacio from Bayfield two years ago and bought a house on Maple Street. But it wasn\u2019t the right fit, and in January she began looking for a new option. A local real estate agent suggested she look into the Rock Creek houses.<\/p>\n

\"Diane
Diane McGuffey smiles from the balcony of her new home in the Rock Creek Housing Project in northwest Ignacio on Thursday. (Scout Edmondson\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cI was trying to find something more affordable, and so I went through a process where you have to go to class and they try to figure out where you fit into the pieces,\u201d McGuffey said. \u201cAnd it worked out great. They were a lot of help.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGuffey started going to Durango nonprofit HomesFund classes, where she learned she made below the 140% of La Plata County\u2019s average median income \u2013 a requirement for anyone looking to buy one of the houses in Rock Springs, said Ignacio Town Manager Mark Garcia. That requirement, Garcia said, is meant to keep the houses open to community members who may not otherwise be able to afford a home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a mix of people we were hoping to provide housing for,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cIt\u2019s an affordable-workforce housing project, so it\u2019s been a good mix of teachers and some retired folks that are downsizing and looking for easier housing needs, and so that\u2019s worked for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garcia said the project has been in the works since 2020, when Ignacio\u2019s town board made a strategic plan that included securing more affordable housing to ensure lower-income community members could live and work in Ignacio or La Plata County.<\/p>\n

By 2023, the housing authority began applying for grant funding for the project, including $2 million from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs\u2019 Innovative Housing Incentive Program<\/a> and $700,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith those dollars, we completed all the infrastructure \u2013 roads, all the utilities, sidewalks, curbs, gutters, asphalt,\u201d he said. \u201cThen we secured financing through First Southwest Bank and started construction, and phase one has 10 homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Construction
Construction continues on the Rock Creek Housing Project in northwest Igancio on Thursday with some residents having moved into their new homes. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The houses were built by Buena Vista-based modular builder Fading West. Phase two, he said, will have another 11 homes available for purchase, though the town of Ignacio will buy three to rent to teachers at local schools as employee housing, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ignacio Housing Authority has been the lead after we started the project and the goal and the intent was just to provide housing for workforce, teachers, first responders and those that are looking for some housing alternatives,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n

He said HomesFund has been helpful through the process of building the houses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have been instrumental in working with our homebuyers to first make sure they qualify for the program,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Construction
Construction continues on the Rock Creek Housing Project in northwest Igancio on Thursday with some residents having moved into their new homes. Each home is energy-efficient with rooftop solar. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

HomesFund helped secure more than $500,000 for homebuyers and helping them buy down their mortgages with those dollars, Garcia said.<\/p>\n

After learning she qualified for the affordable housing development, McGuffey moved into her new home in July. Being able to stay in Ignacio, she said, has been nice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to be in Ignacio because my son lives in Arboles, and I wanted to be close to him and away from Durango,\u201d she said. \u201cIgnacio is very much a tight-knit community, and you have better facilities than anywhere else. So it\u2019s really nice.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

sedmondson@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Construction
Construction continues on the Rock Creek Housing Project in northwest Igancio on Thursday with some residents having moved into their new homes. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

to teachers, retirees and low-income community members<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,453,1235,475,1269],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-housing-and-urban-planning","tag-ignacio","tag-la-plata-county-colorado","tag-nonprofits"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15591"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19738,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15591\/revisions\/19738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15591"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}