Matthew Gillen, director of APHA, told the Pitkin County Board of County Commissioners that the agency has made the essential-repairs grant program permanent and has paid out more than $600,000 across about 121 approved grants.
"The average repair cost was $10,000 and the average actual grant given was nearly $6,000," Gillen said, noting windows and hot water heaters were among the most common repairs. He said keeping the program will help maintain existing housing stock.
Gillen walked the board through a capital-reserve study APHA funded for 27 homeowners associations covering about 391 individual units. The study rated four HOAs as poor-to-average, 17 as average, five as average-to-good and one as good. Based on those results, APHA estimated participating HOAs face between $7 million and $12 million in anticipated capital work over the next 10 years, primarily for building-envelope items (roofs, foundations, siding).
Board members asked whether any HOA was at imminent risk of failure. Gillen said one HOA was rated poor but he did not have details indicating a critical system failure; most cases instead reflected deferred maintenance and the need for planned upkeep.
APHA said it will expand HOA education and training, offer homeowner classes tied to the agency 27s strategic plan, host attorney office hours for document review, and maintain a twice-yearly HOA newsletter. Gillen also described a compliance initiative led by a full-time compliance manager hired in 2023: the office conducted about 452 compliance actions since April 2023, finding roughly 90% compliance in random audits and about 14 noncompliant units that largely resolved by owner sale or corrective action without appeals.
Commissioners thanked staff and asked APHA to continue reporting progress on capital-reserve outreach and the results of homeowner-education efforts. The board and staff agreed to revisit particular HOA questions offline as APHA compiles more specific details.