John H. McCulloch: Permanent homeless housing

I am a resident of North Boulder and I now know that Boulder is 30 square miles surrounded by reality, or not in my backyard.

In all the letters to the editor, nothing has been said of the cost of this project.  Let’s review.

Purchase price of land.  $850,000.  Cost to build the 31 unit building.  $6,000,000.  There will be other costs so let’s round it at $7,000,000.  That is about $225,000 per unit.  Nice if you can get it.

Here is the insane part.  Annual operating costs.  BHP said they would have 6 full time staffers on site.  I am sure they will have full benefits, so $75,000 per person for a total of $450,000.  Operating costs such as heat, insurance, etc., estimate $10 per square foot, so add another $300,000.  Damage, other costs, $50,000 for a grand total of $$800,000 or $25,800 per resident.  I can rent a room at a nice residential hotel in Boulder for a year at that cost.

Let’s have some common sense here.  And don’t forget the last RTD stop will be in front of this building.  That should be a safe area at 10pm at night!!!

John H. McCulloch
Boulder