In the News

Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen visited Chaffee County on Thursday, Oct. 10, to visit the Solvista Regional Assessment Center in Salida.

The visit was part of a trip to Chaffee County that included stops at the grand re-opening of the historic McGinnis Gym and the Jewel Ball.

Seeing the Solvista RAC, which opened in 2022 was meaningful for Pettersen as it was a tangible result of the Building Substance Use Disorder Treatment Capacity in Underserved Communities grant program that Pettersen helped establish while serving in the Colorado statehouse.

The RAC was built thanks in part to a $700,000 grant from that program and offers space and services to help with withdrawal and acute psychiatric crises associated with substance addiction, previously only available on the front range.

“I was able to visit that with Jim Wilson who worked with me on a task force that I chaired and brought the bill to start to transform our substance use disorder treatment access. It was because of our work that that building, those services exist here,” Pettersen told the Times.

The McGinnis Gym Project also benefited from federal funding through an Environmental Protection Agency grant for Brownfields remediation.

“That was possible because of the state, county and local government and federal government working together and drawing down numerous avenues of critical funding to help support this project," she said. “This is what happens when you have people who are community members who are dedicated and supportive at every level.”

As a U.S. representative, Pettersen recently had her first bill passed into federal law, which also seeks to combat opioid abuse.

The Preventing the Financing of Illegal Synthetic Drugs Act directs the Comptroller General of the United States to study and report on illicit financing associated with synthetic drug trafficking.

“Unfortunately, some of the barriers that we face are that some of these agencies are not working together or kind of working in silos. … They need to be working together, working in concert and make sure they’re running in the same direction,” Pettersen said. “This one specifically goes after the financial services side of things, since I’m on that committee: How the cartels are utilizing our financial institutions. It shines a light on the pathways that are being exploited and what we can do to remedy that.”

“It's very exciting to get a bill passed in Congress, because, as you know, we're not known for being the most functional body of government, so to actually get something all the way through the process, it's very exciting,” she said.

Pettersen, along with California representative Jay Obernolte, a Republican, introduced a bill earlier this month to help combat wildfires through early detection by satellite imagery “and supporting grant funding for communities to take advantage of that data,” she said.

Chaffee County was drawn into the 7th congressional district after the state went through redistricting in 2021. The new 7th district includes Lakewood, Pettersen’s hometown, as well as a large swath of rural Central Colorado.

Pettersen said that while the population center of her district is in the Denver suburbs, communities throughout the district are facing similar problems which are often felt more acutely in rural areas.

“The lack of focus on housing from my colleagues in our subcommittee has been very frustrating. This is one of the number one pain points for people across the United States and it's because of many factors. … We haven't invested in the housing supply since the ‘80s and ‘90s, and we also had a housing crisis in 2009 and half of our home developers were wiped out in that who never returned into the industry,” she said. “What we need to do is, at the federal level, bring the systemic change as necessary, and that's specifically dedicated funding for and financial incentives for things like senior housing that are for specific population needs. But it's also workforce housing as well. You're not going to get developers who are going to build the types of homes that we need that are attainable for regular folks because the profit margins aren't there.”

Pettersen said that federal investment in public-private partnerships to build housing, such as the $1.2 million her office helped secure for the Midland Apartments and childcare center, were key to building that housing inventory.

“This is a specific project, and I’m proud of that, but we need systemic changes not only to invest in childcare deserts but to support our workforce with loan forgiveness programs … There’s a lot we can do to infuse money into the childcare services sector without bringing increased national debt if we actually bring a fair tax system.”

She also spoke of “addressing the workforce gap.”

“There are two jobs open for every person looking in Colorado, and it's because we've cut off immigration into this country for two decades. We don't provide legal pathways, and the only option that people have is showing up at the border, and that creates a crisis. You know, it's just a chaotic mess because we haven't dealt with this at the federal level. So we need to have legal pathways for people that are to do the jobs that are necessary for our economy to meet current needs, but also grow into the future.”

Also connected to housing are Buena Vista’s problems with its Post Office.

“I'm proud of what we were able to do to really push the Postal Service to focus on these needed areas. It was unacceptable what was happening. But the Postal Service, like all other services, are having a difficult time actually attracting and retaining workers because they can't afford to live here,” she said. “We are always here to support people who are having issues that we can advocate with them, with the Postal Service, but also recognizing that there are systemic issues that they alone can't overcome … I think that oftentimes people in rural communities oftentimes feel left behind, because there's not as many people in those communities, so they can feel pushed aside, whether it's the Postal Service or their federal representation.”

Pettersen also spoke about the increased impacts of tourism on Chaffee County’s public lands in the context of increasing risks of wildfire due to climate change.

The county receives funding every year from Payment in Lieu of Taxes funds, which are intended to offset property tax losses due to having nontaxable public lands.

“We have a bill to make that – It's always on the chopping block every year – to make that ongoing so we don't have to constantly come back and fight for it, but it's still insufficient in terms of the resources needed to maintain the support necessary for all the all of the tourists are coming, and it's not just it's just wildfire risk. It's also the trash that they leave behind, and it's also the emergency room visits or the, you know, just the impact of people coming here,” Pettersen said.