{"id":38084,"date":"2022-10-03T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-03T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/microloans-offer-up-to-5000-for-eligible-la-plata-county-renters\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:42:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:42:05","slug":"microloans-offer-up-to-5000-for-eligible-la-plata-county-renters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/microloans-offer-up-to-5000-for-eligible-la-plata-county-renters\/","title":{"rendered":"Microloans offer up to $5,000 for eligible La Plata County renters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Landlords
Landlords must give some renters 30 days notice before filing an eviction action in court. The national eviction moratorium ended Saturday. (David Zalubowski\/Associated Press file)<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A rental assistance program is offering eligible La Plata County renters low-cost, fixed-rate microloans of up to $5,000 to cover the first month\u2019s rent, last month\u2019s rent and\/or a security deposit.<\/p>\n

The Workforce Rental Assistance Program is a collaboration of the La Plata Development Economic Alliance, La Plata County, city of Durango and First Southwest Bank.<\/p>\n

Michael French, the Alliance\u2019s executive director who put the program together, said Durango hospitality workers were the first ones to articulate their struggles in affording rent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe genesis of the program came about this summer,\u201d he said. \u201cWe heard from those working in the hospitality sector about their rent struggles. After we talked to the city and county about what could be done to help our hospitality industry workers, we started hearing from other parts of our workforce \u2013 essential workers. They all need to be able to live here like everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eva Henson, Durango\u2019s housing innovation manager, agreed with French.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople working here should not be struggling to live here,\u201d she said. \u201cJust the upfront costs of renting a unit can be high with paying rent and the security deposit at the same time. This micro-lease program would help with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

French clarified that the city, county and First Southwest Bank are all contributing to the $150,000 fund for the pilot program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one thing La Plata County could do, and we were glad to be able to partner on this project that helps our economy and the people who keep our service industries functioning,\u201d said La Plata County Commissioner Marsha Porter-Norton in an email to The Durango Herald<\/em> on Friday.<\/p>\n

The first-come, first-serve pilot program launched Sept. 1 and has already had a dozen applicants. Ellen Stein, marketing director of First Southwest Bank, said the number of loans will be capped at 30.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 30 for now, but there will likely be additional funds after the initial program,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The microloan program has a 2% annual percentage rate with the $5,000 maximum loan amount, resulting in 36 monthly payments of $143.22, according to La Plata Economic Development Alliance. The loan will be payable over three years with monthly principal and interest payments. No collateral will be required for the loan, and there will be no associated fees or prepayment penalty.<\/p>\n

Those interested in the program must make 80% or less of La Plata County\u2019s area median income (approximately $66,000) and the rental property must be located within the county. The lease agreement is for a minimum of one year, and proof of lease must be provided. The loan will be limited to one per residence, and the loan for co-borrowers will also be capped at $5,000. Because the program is limited to $150,000, those eligible who apply first will be granted the loan.<\/p>\n

French stressed that no minimum FICO score will be required for the loan.<\/p>\n

\u201cApplicants won\u2019t have to worry about credit scores, which is nice,\u201d he said. \u201cThe bank isn\u2019t requiring them. It\u2019s a straightforward application. I hope people take advantage of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

French promised that everyone involved will continue working on solutions to Durango\u2019s high cost of living and they have no doubt there will be more programs to assist Durango\u2019s workforce in affording the city\u2019s ever-increasing cost of living.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will definitely continue on with this after the pilot,\u201d French said. \u201cThis is just one of many strategies and implementations the Alliance, the county and the city are working on.\u201d<\/p>\n

molsen@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Workforce Rental Assistance Program targets those making less than area median income<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1504,28,453,4118],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-38084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-banking","tag-headlines","tag-housing-and-urban-planning","tag-loan-market"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38084","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=38084"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83909,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38084\/revisions\/83909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38084"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=38084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}