Frisco Pushes For More Local Buyers & Renters Amid High Country Housing Crisis

FRISCO, Colo. (CBS4) - Two new programs from Frisco city council are intended to curb what is being described as an absolute crisis in housing. On Monday before her interview with CBS4, councilmember Melissa Sherburne says she took stock of just how high prices have risen.

"The median home price right now is $827,000. That's all housing units. For a single family home it's 1.3 million," Sherburne explained.

"For members of our workforce, it's simply unattainable."

That's why city council has opted to try out two new plans. First, an incentive for property owners looking to rent their homes as short term rentals to consider long term rentals instead.

The plan would include management and maintenance fees for owners, so long as they're willing to only allow folks working in town to stay, long term. Property management would be taken care of by the town through a local management company, and the total lease amount would be paid up front as soon as the lease was signed.

The second plan, dubbed "Frisco Housing Helps 2.0" is focused on pushing people selling their homes to consider a deed restriction for only locals as well. That would stop big spenders from out of state simply looking for an investment property and not planning to live in the mountains from scooping up all the real estate while raising prices for locals.

The incentive for sellers would be a 10-15% of sale additional payment from the town of Frisco as a part of the deed transaction.

Still they're considering all options right now to allow people who work in Summit County to actually live there too. That includes building more homes as well, but Sherburne said that only accomplishes so much.

"There absolutely is a part of the equation that is about building new units and you will see that throughout Summit County but that's not always the solution,' Sherburne told CBS4's Spencer Wilson.

"It's how they are being utilized and who is using them that is also important."

Frisco city council is now hoping to achieve a 50% occupancy rate for it's units in town, which it says will help keep track of progress and make sure it's plans are effective.