Western San Luis Valley, Colorado

The San Luis Valley is a rural region of south-central Colorado with strong employment in agriculture, government, and healthcare. Despite this, housing costs and poor living conditions have continued to impact residents’ daily lives, posing risks to community health and wellbeing. The COVID-19 pandemic compounded these already persistent problems. With a small and declining population base, it became difficult to attract residents and new businesses into the region.

To address these issues, the Western San Luis Valley region — comprising Center, Del Norte, La Jara, and Saguache — participated in the Colorado COVID-19 Regional Resiliency and Recovery Roadmaps Program, a federal program administered by the State of Colorado. Community Builders was hired to facilitate the Western San Luis Valley roadmap team at the local level.

Community Builders helped the Western San Luis Valley team identify regional challenges and brainstorm solutions throughout the project, largely focusing on workforce housing and entrepreneurship opportunities. The team engaged with local leaders and economic development and housing organizations at the local, regional, and state level to create a roadmap of next steps.

The Western San Luis Valley Resiliency & Recovery Roadmap served as the project’s culminating plan. The plan  led to updated zoning around housing, planned new housing construction, an infrastructure needs assessment, and increased local leadership capacity.