Housing, particularly affordable housing, is currently the big issue in the City of Salida and Chaffee County in general. As Mike Rosso stated in his editorial in the October issue of Colorado Central Magazine, affordable housing is the most obvious, and most urgent and of the growing pains that accompany the changes Salida is experiencing: “With skyrocketing real estate prices, how can a young family starting out even begin to consider owning their own home? Where are the service workers supposed to live? In their cars or camped out on surrounding BLM land? These problems are slowly being addressed in the political realm, but not with the urgency required, especially on the part of the current majority council members, who I’m sure all have nice homes in Salida and are far removed from the realities of the waitress who serves them their steaks.”
This issue was discussed on KHEN radio by the two candidates for mayor, Planning Commission President PT Wood and incumbent Mayor Jim LiVecchi, in two sessions available in podcasts as part of the KHEN 2017 local election series, Topic 1, hosted by Ken Matthews. Three Salida City Council candidates also expressed their views on housing in this KHEN series, Dan Shore, candidate for Council in Ward 1, Justin Critelli, candidate for Council in Ward 2, and Harald Kasper, candidate for Council in Ward 3 and also a member of the Salida City Planning Commission. All of these interviews are available on the KHEN website and are informative.