The Colorado Rural Housing Development Corporation (CRHDC) helped the Montrose County Housing Authority (MCHA) to develop farm worker housing in Olathe, Colorado in response to the needs of the agricultural community for a reliable source of farm labor workers. There was very little quality rental housing accessible to farm workers around Olathe. This led MCHA to undertake the project, even though the housing authority had limited development experience. CRHDC played a crucial role in the success of the project, performing needs assessments, providing technical assistance, and securing the funds necessary to complete the project. Funding for these projects consisted of RHS Section 514/516 Farm Labor Housing funds, with HOME funds used as gap financing.

In 1993, MCHA opened a 72-bed dormitory for migrant farmworkers. Shortly after that, 12 duplexes were built on scattered sites throughout Olathe, consisting of 24 three and four-bedroom family rental units.

Home for the Homeless?

In 1998, the Housing Authority became actively involved with issues involving a growing number of homeless in the area. The farm labor dormitory seemed like the ideal location to house homeless since the facility was largely vacant during the colder winter months when the demand seemed the highest for housing the homeless. MCHA appealed to Rural Development to use unoccupied beds in the dorm as a homeless shelter. Prior to that, the dorm could only be used for farm labor workers only. In 1998, MCHA successfully negotiated an agreement with Rural Development to use the dorm for both farmworkers and the homeless, provided that the ineligible homeless population use the dorm on a space-available basis. Area law enforcement and churches work together to maximize homeless dollars by referring area homeless to the facility which is still being used that way today.