Housing for the students who keep Estes Park running is finally on the table

If you have spent a summer in Estes Park, you have met them. The young people from other countries who pour your coffee, check you into your hotel, and work the trails beside the rest of us. They come here on the Summer Work Travel program, they work hard, and then they go home. The part nobody talks about enough is where they sleep while they are here.

That conversation started in earnest on Thursday night, November 5, when about two dozen community members, business owners, and local stakeholders joined a public Zoom meeting organized by the Estes Park Community Support Group and coordinated with the BridgeUSA cultural exchange program. On the call was Dan Bullock, president and co-founder of International Residence Hall and president of Holtz Companies, a Wisconsin-based developer that builds dormitory-style housing for international exchange visitors in vacation towns.

Bullock's company already runs this kind of housing in Wisconsin Dells, Pigeon Forge, Branson, Foley in Alabama, and Myrtle Beach. Its largest campus, in Wisconsin Dells, houses about 1,421 residents. The dorms have furnished shared bedrooms, communal kitchens, laundry facilities, recreational areas, security monitoring, and organized social activities. As Bullock put it, "We provide a 'housing experience.'"

Nothing is decided here yet, and that matters. Bullock said his company is interested in exploring opportunities in Estes Park but is not presenting a formal development proposal at this time. There is no site selected, no financing secured, and no decision about how many people a building might house. Before sizing anything, he said, the company would measure employer demand, set a target rental rate, and assemble the financing. "We want to make sure we do it right the first time," Bullock said.

The need is real, and it is not just about beds. Estes Park's tourism season keeps stretching further into spring and fall, but many Summer Work Travel students must return home in August or September to resume their studies. Businesses still need workers into October, and the program cannot simply be extended because participation has to fall during students' academic breaks. Housing alone will not fix that mismatch, and the employers on the call said so plainly. But a local employer who has hired international students for 25 years said the program has been essential to the community's tourism economy, and that housing shortages have contributed to declining participation.

There are hurdles before a shovel could move. Estes Park's existing development code does not permit dormitory-style housing as envisioned. The town's proposed development code, reportedly about 90 percent complete, includes provisions for dormitories, and the town board is expected to consider the revised code early next year. Meeting participants also raised questions about density requirements and whether the new rules would allow a financially viable project.

One thing I was glad to hear: the people in the room kept coming back to the permanent residents, too. Participants stressed that efforts to expand international student housing must also recognize the housing and employment needs of the people who live here year round. Bullock said the company could also consider housing domestic seasonal workers or year-round employees, depending on community needs and the project's design.

The Estes Park Community Support Group, formed about a year ago, has been doing the quiet work behind all of this, connecting exchange visitors with employers, sponsors, housing providers, and local institutions, and even arranging for Social Security representatives to visit Estes Park so students do not have to travel outside the community to complete paperwork. That kind of welcome is what makes a town worth coming back to, for visitors and for the students who keep the place running.

The next steps are employer demand projections, potential properties, zoning, and financial partners. The community conversation continues November 17 with a virtual presentation by the Alliance for International Exchange on federal exchange policies, visa challenges, and advocacy.

Read the original reporting at Estes Valley Voice.