Brown Ranch

Brown Ranch

The Brown Ranch is a special place just west of the current Steamboat Springs city limits. It’s a beautiful 534-acre property with meadows, bluffs, creeks and rolling hills that include stunning views of the ski area, the Continental Divide, the Sleeping Giant, and Emerald Mountain.

For more than a century, the Brown family farmed the land, producing oats and wheat, raising horses and generations of children. And for the last 14 years, it has laid fallow.

Now, thanks to the foresight and generosity of an anonymous donor who gifted this property to the Yampa Valley Housing Authority, our community has the opportunity of a lifetime.

Over time, this special place will become a series of vibrant, resilient, diverse, and welcoming neighborhoods. It can provide a wide variety of housing options and services designed by and for the Yampa Valley community. And by delivering long-term affordable housing opportunities for Routt County workers, the Brown Ranch can help preserve the Steamboat character we all cherish.

We need your input!

For the next several months, Yampa Valley Housing Authority and the Brown Ranch Steering Committee will be gathering extensive community input to put together a Comprehensive Development Plan for the Brown Ranch. To learn more about the Brown Ranch and how you can be involved, please visit the Brown Ranch website using the links below.

Brown Ranch Steamboat Website (english)

Rancho Brown (español)

Brown Ranch Video Q&A

Jason Peasley (Executive Director of YVHA), and Sheila Henderson (Director of Community Engagement at the Brown Ranch), discuss some of the most frequently asked questions from the Steamboat and Yampa Valley community regarding the Brown Ranch affordable housing development.

These questions include:

  • Why do we need the Brown Ranch?
  • How will the Brown Ranch create affordable housing for the Yampa Valley?
  • Who will get to live at the Brown Ranch?
  • How has the Community been involved in the planning of Brown Ranch?
Video Link - Why do we need the Brown Ranch?
Video Link - How has the Community been involved in the planning of Brown Ranch?