A Colorado town’s child care fix: affordable homes that double as day cares

A version of this story originally aired on KUNC.

Six-month-old Daisy wakes up from a nap with pink cheeks and spiky hair. 

“She is so cute. She knows it too,” said Sarah Hachtel.  

Sarah and Adam Hachtel are picking their baby up from Ouray Family Childcare, located in a small town near Telluride, Colorado. Today was her first day.  

“It went wonderful,” Adam said.

Baby Daisy got a spot here for the winter. Before they found Ouray, the Hachtels would spend nearly three hours a day getting their older son to and from day care in Montrose, a larger town.    

This is not an unusual situation. In a 2022 survey, 80% of families responded that child care in the area didn’t meet their needs, especially for babies and toddlers. 

“It's unaffordable to live here, so you have to work full-time and or we have to, at least — I don’t want to speak for everybody,” Adam Hachtel said. “But without child care, that's not possible, and so we’d have to move somewhere else.”

Last year, working families got some relief when this day care and another opened just down the street from each other, in a new affordable housing development. What makes this different from regular in-home day care is that the houses were built specifically for it and pre-licensed, with the necessary fences, ramps and square footage.  

The businesses are part of the Rural Homes Early Childhood Initiative, a local effort aiming to simultaneously address the shortage of child care and housing. The region’s early childhood council recruited and trained providers. The builder reduced costs through grants, state dollars and low-cost construction loans. 

Melissa McChristian operates Ouray Family Childcare out of her tidy white house that sits on the Uncompahgre River. Mountain peaks loom in the distance. McChristian points to her kitchen. 

“This is kind of our craft-slash-eating area,” said McChristian. “They do naps over here because it's cozy.”

McChristian applied to live and work in the home. She got a grant to buy tiny tables, bookshelves and cubbies. But it's been a rollercoaster.

“I mean, it's ups and downs with the unknowns,” McChristian said.

She has learned billing and scheduling. Enrollment was slow at first, but has since picked up. 

“I’m probably set with babies and then with a waitlist for three years,” she said.

Efforts to create more in-home day care spots are underway in other rural communities in states like Kansas and Minnesota. Here in Colorado, Ouray’s second day care is located on the same street as the first one. 

Estrella Piatt runs Tiny Colorado Treasures, which is open 11 hours a day, plus some weekends. Business is going really well. But the other part of this project — the homeownership part — is more complicated. 

“My initial plan was, you know, live in the home for two years, which is great, and then buy it. But that's just not realistic,” Piatt said.

These two providers get subsidized rent with the option to buy, but the rent goes up every year. With the cost of living and running a business, Piatt just can’t save enough for a down payment. She is still hoping to buy, eventually.  

Same for Melissa McChristian of Ouray Family Childcare. As she helps the Hachtel family get out the door, she shares some good news. 

“We have a full-time spot open,” said McChristian. “So I wanted to offer it to you.” 

A full-time spot for six-month-old Daisy, starting in the spring. 

“It only took her one day to win you over!” Adam said.

While this experiment hasn’t completely solved the area’s child care shortage, at least one family is driving home happy.