The Inn Between Breaks Ground on Wesley Townhomes
Affordable Housing Project to Serve Low-Income Households in Longmont
The Inn Between of Longmont, a nonprofit dedicated to housing and supporting individuals experiencing homelessness, has broken ground—or rather, asphalt—on the Wesley Townhomes, an affordable housing project that will provide homes for approximately 50 people.
Situated on what was once the parking lot of the Heart of Longmont United Methodist Church at 350 11th Avenue, the project will include 11 townhomes with a mix of two- and three-bedroom units.
Building on the success of the Micah Homes project completed in December of 2019, where The Inn Between worked with the First Congregational United Church of Christ of Longmont, the Wesley Townhomes initiative aims to provide essential affordable housing for low-income households.
“I had a representative from [the United Church of Christ] who had donated a quarter acre at that time for us to build six permanently affordable units for elderly residents,” said Tim Rakow, Executive Director of The Inn Between. “They said their congregation was dwindling, and we started thinking, ‘What about using this space for affordable housing?’”
While the Micah Homes faced extensive zoning and entitlement challenges, the Wesley Townhomes benefited from being pre-zoned as a mixed-use site.
“The entitlement process—planning, zoning, permitting—it’s a couple of years at least, and sometimes more,” Rakow said. “In this case, it was already zoned correctly, so we were able to move forward faster. That zoning allowed us to develop a multi-resident situation or even a business. It was a huge advantage for the timeline.”
The Wesley Townhomes follows a growing trend for utilizing underused spaces, such as church parking lots, for housing developments.
“This isn’t the first parking lot we’ve built on,” Rakow noted. “We’ve seen churches and organizations identify unused land and donate it for affordable housing. It’s a great model for community-driven solutions.”
The Wesley Townhomes represent just one step in addressing the vast gap in affordable housing inventory. Rakow expressed hope for continued growth.
“This is our second project like this, and we hope there’s a third,” Rakow said. “Until we meet the gap in low-end workforce housing, there’s so much more to do. We’re committed to sustainable solutions that help people thrive.”
At the November 12, Longmont City Council meeting, councilmembers voted 3-1 to approve a $139,950 waiver of development fees for the project, a move intended to boost its competitiveness for additional funding.
Longmont Housing Investment Manager Christy Wiseman explained to the council that the waiver would reduce The Inn Between’s gap funding request to the Colorado Department of Housing, enhancing the project’s state application.
Rakow noted that the Wesley Townhomes is a $6.8 million project, partially supported by two rounds of Boulder County Worthy Cause funding and additional lending assistance from the City of Longmont.
“Between now and probably approximately March, utilities are going in. It’s all this underground stuff right now. It’s digging holes and utilities, and electrical is next. That’s in full swing now. We’re going for it right now. They’re starting on more than just digging ground—they’re really moving forward,” Rakow said.
The Wesley Townhomes are being built with a passive house design, which Rakow described as “an extremely high energy-efficient process” that incorporates highly insulated walls. “It will save us about 70 percent on our utility bills,” he said.
The project will feature 100 percent electric utilities and solar panels to produce energy, with its energy-efficient and green features driven in part by recent policy changes.
“These greener initiatives are baked into some of these grant requests now,” Rakow noted. “To separate yourself or raise the standards for applicants, they want you to demonstrate being energy-efficient and using greener technologies. Proposition 123, passed in Colorado a couple of years ago, expanded funding to encourage low-income housing. But built into those standards is an expectation that you’re going to deliver a product that meets higher energy efficiency standards.”
The Wesley Townhomes project reflects a growing trend in affordable housing construction to adopt sustainable practices. While an official grand opening date is yet to be confirmed, Rakow shared that the project’s completion is anticipated in late 2025.
Rakow clarified the inspiration behind the name Wesley Townhomes, saying it honors Methodist founder John Wesley and his well-known call to service: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can.” Rakow added, “It’s really a legacy from Heart of Longmont in service to the community.”
Rev. Claire McNulty-Drewes expressed that the Heart of Longmont church has a long-standing commitment to social concerns in the community.
“This church has been committed to a variety of social concerns in the community for a long time,” McNulty-Drewes said. “For its 150-year history, it’s been involved in many, many of the initiatives in the community. And because of the housing crisis in Longmont, the church just took it seriously and decided to partner with The Inn Between to be able to provide 11 units for housing. It was an opportunity for us to use some of our space for the mission, and it was an opportunity for The Inn Between to expand their offerings for transitional and permanent housing.”
The partnership aligns seamlessly with Heart of Longmont’s mission to spread compassion and support the vulnerable.
“Our mission is to put more of God’s love in the world, and providing safe and affordable housing is certainly one of the ways that we’re doing that,” McNulty-Drewes said. “I think Jesus said, ‘What you do to the least of these, you’ve done for me.’ To care for the poor, to care for the sick, to provide for those who are vulnerable in the community—that’s what we’re doing.”
To ensure full support, the project required an all-church vote, which involved multiple months of meetings and informational opportunities for people to learn.
“And our vote was almost unanimous. I think there was one ‘no’ and hundreds of ‘yeses,’ so it was essentially a unanimous vote to donate the land. It wasn’t just a leadership decision—it was a whole church community decision,” McNulty-Drewes said.
The land for the housing project previously served as part of the church’s parking lot, which had been built during an era of larger congregations.
“When they put the parking lot in the 70s and 80s, we were worshiping 2,000 people on a Sunday, and we needed every bit of parking,” McNulty-Drewes noted. “That’s just no longer the case for the church. So, we realized that we didn’t need nearly as much parking. The question became, how do we best use that space?”
The decision to repurpose the land was met with excitement and approval from the church.
“I think there’s just excitement and approval for helping our community, particularly with the housing crisis,” McNulty-Drewes said. “We all know that we have a crisis in terms of affordable housing, so I think people were—and are—really excited. We’re a mission-minded community.”
However, the process was not without the challenge of relocating the church’s playground and navigating the city planning process. Despite the hurdles, the church remains focused on the opportunity to serve the community in a vital new way.
“Instead of focusing on the negative—like saying, ‘Gosh, we used to worship 3,000 people’ and being sad about that—we’re reframing it,” McNulty-Drewes said. “Now we get to provide housing and be a vital church. It’s a huge opportunity to serve the community.”
As construction progresses and the Wesley Townhomes take shape, the collaboration promises not just a shelter for those in need, but a future where neighbors come together to build a stronger, more compassionate community. The Heart of Longmont is not only loving thy neighbor but creating thy neighbor to love on what was once their property.
Well done. It will be interesting to see it in it's finished state.