As the City of Brush looks forward, housing and job growth are the intertwined challenges on the horizon.

Tyler Purvis, marketing specialist for the City of Brush, presented an outlook on the Brush economy to business leaders at Wednesday’s Brush Area Chamber of Commerce monthly luncheon at The Course at Pettys Park.

His outlook reflects many positive factors presently taking place, or which have transpired recently.

In a “Local Economy Update,” Purvis said: “It’s expensive to invest, but it’s a prime time to invest…opportunities abound.”

There are several vacancies in the downtown Brush area, he said.

This past year has been a “good year for Brush,” Purvis said, with unemployment rates ranging from 2.6 percent to 3.4 percent each month.

Brush Mayor Rick Bain said: “I believe Brush needs to be really open to allowing businesses in that would bring about job growth for our town. That doesn’t mean we have to be huge, I think responsible growth is the key.”

The five biggest challenges for the Brush business community are housing, childcare, workforce, things to do or a recreation center, and new businesses, Purvis said.

Mayor Bain said the feedback he receives from older Brush students every year impacts his outlook. While visiting students for an annual ‘City and Town’ week, he always asks: Who wants to stay in Brush after they are done with school?

“The answer each year is always about the same. Half want to get away as soon as they can, and the other half would like to stay and raise their families here,” Bain said.

Bain said this consistent response sticks with him for a reason.

“It touches me because, I know that the way things are now, we can’t even accommodate half of our children to stay in our community.”

“We simply don’t have enough growth to provide the employment necessary for them to do that,” Bain added.

For the employment growth that is there, the housing shortage poses the question: Even if jobs are created, where will employees live?

At the chamber meeting, a member asked Purvis to explain the source of housing shortages, despite growth in employment. For housing, Purvis said, “the cost to build, versus the margin of profit, is the challenge.” He previously had explained homebuilders might enjoy greater profit margins in metro Denver, opposed to Morgan County.

New chamber member Willow Moskowitz jumped in with an important context point: “the average family house in Denver is selling for $550,000 right now.” She has interests in that real estate market, as a realtor with the Berkshire Group.

Bain explained how the City of Brush worked to get feedback on its housing challenges.

“Last year, we held a homebuilder’s workshop, and we brought in representatives from banking and real estate. We then invited people who are interested in building a home or home ownership to come in and talk to them, so they could find out from the representatives, what they needed to do in order to get started,” Bain said.

“What we found about the cost to build new homes was really a tough hurdle for young people. It’s just a matter of having the money to get into a home is tough,” Bain said.

Bain explained the city council’s efforts to reduce startup costs for home-builders in the area.These include multifamily building and residential building incentive policies that halve the initial fees, such as a wastewater connecting fee or building permit fee, to lower the financial hurdle.

“For a regular single family home, that would save about $4,000 dollars, and on a multifamily residential building, it would save about $5,000,” Bain said.

Bain said this program will continue for the next two years.

Both Bain and Purvis express the importance of ongoing efforts to attract investment and housing development.

“The goal has to be, bringing jobs, that pay well, that enable people to own their own homes,” Bain said.

“People don’t invest in places they don’t see as viable,” Purvis said, explaining his positivity toward Brush.

Kara Morgan: kmorgan@fmtimes.com or 508-282-7553