Southern Ute Tribal Council members met with representatives from the Cedar Point Housing Initiative, Southern Ute Housing Department, and Lands Division on Monday, Oct. 17 at the groundbreaking celebration in the Cedar Point Subdivision. Over 80 houses and 25 town homes will begin their year and a half production starting this winter. The development project began in 2014 after the Southern Ute Growth Fund did a housing assessment for tribal members on the reservation, which concluded there was a need of more housing and rentals.

“This is a day that’s important to us because acquiring housing has been difficult,” stated Vice Councilwoman Lorelei Cloud. “Our people need homes and now we can provide more for them. It’s going to be good to see all the new homes and families coming in.”

The Cedar Point Subdivision project is fully funded by the tribe and will consist of four development phases, starting with phase 1 that will include 25 town homes and 23 single-family lots. Infrastructure of water, gas, and electricity will also be conducted in the first phase. The 23 single-family lots will be available first and construction of the 25 town homes is expected to begin spring of 2017.

Tribal chairman Clement J. Frost spoke at the groundbreaking celebration, where he stated that the expansion of Cedar Point would assist many tribal families and residents.

“Today is the first step in a monumental project,” he said. “This is a milestone for our community, and we’re very excited to provide new homes for tribal members. I want to give great thanks for all the teams who were able to put this together. The future is going to be very bright for these homes.”

April Toledo, construction project manager, stated that there has been a number of interests in the town homes, and encourages tribal members to contact the Housing Department for early requests.

“Now is the time where we can accommodate tribal members with their requests, and our team is available anytime for people who walk in with suggestions of what they want for their homes,” she stated. “We are very flexible, so hopefully this will inspire tribal members to come in and talk with us.”

Toledo added that the Cedar Point Subdivision project is the first collaboration with the Housing Department and the Southern Ute Growth Fund Realty.

“I’m really excited for this because we’ve never collaborated with the Growth Fund’s Realty, as far as construction goes. That’s what makes this project unique. With all of our other projects, we’d have to pay the consultants and contractors ourselves. This time, the Growth Fund is providing all of that for us free of charge … I think that owning a home is the ultimate dream for many people.”

Tribal members interested in these new homes must be eligible for both a home-site assignment and a home loan to be considered. Tribal members cannot have an existing assignment, and must also qualify with Tribal Credit.

Tribal members interested in the new homes can contact the Housing Department at 970-563-4575.