Six-month-old Daisy woke up from an afternoon nap at Ouray Family Childcare with pink cheeks and spiky hair. Her parents were excited to pick her up; this was Daisy’s first day.
“It went wonderful,” her father, Adam Hachtel, said.
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He remembers the routine before they found this place, back when their older son was little. With few full-time options close by, these parents would spend nearly three hours a day getting their son to daycare in Montrose, on a road that can be dangerous during winter months.
“You're commuting before and after work, and by the time you get your kid home from Montrose, it's definitely less time that you're getting to spend with them,” Hachtel said.
Still, he emphasized how lucky they were to have care at all. In a 2022 survey, four out of five respondents in Ouray County said childcare didn’t meet their needs: they couldn't find it, couldn’t afford it, or couldn’t access care that matched their working hours.
Ouray County is home to around 100 children under the age of five and only a handful of daycare spots for the youngest ones, according to Kathleen Merritt, the executive director of Bright Futures, the region’s early childhood council.
"It was impacting family planning as well, so they were choosing not to grow their family because of the lack of child care options here in your Ray County," said Merritt.
The shortage is especially dire among babies and toddlers who are not yet old enough for preschool programs. Plus, daycares are limited in the number of children under 18 months old they can care for.
“I think it's really important for the community to have young families, for the vibrancy of the community and to have kids coming up in those communities,” Hachtel said. “It's unaffordable to live here, so you have to work full time and…. without childcare, that's not possible.”
‘Common sense’
Last year, working families in the area got some relief when this daycare and another opened just down the street from each other. The businesses are part of the Rural Homes Early Childhood Initiative (RHECI), a new local project tackling the twin shortages of affordable housing and childcare.
“There's nothing other than common sense to say, ‘Well, can we solve both of them at the same time?” said Paul Major, the founder of Rural Homes.
In 2023, Rural Homes, a Telluride-based nonprofit developer, began raising funds to build a street of affordable housing in Ouray. The homes were finished in October of 2024.
Two of them, one on each end of the block, were built and pre-licensed specifically for in-home childcare businesses. This includes complying with state-mandated requirements related to everything from fencing to square footage.
“Even to the extent that if you have an infant, you have to have a ramp to bring the crib out of the house. So we had to build ramps in case of fire,” said Major.
Initial construction costs of around $10 million were financed through a combination of grants, low-cost construction loans and money from the state’s affordable housing fund, which was created four years ago with the passage of Proposition 123.
“If you're going to build a subdivision, why not have a couple of those houses pre-license, ready to go, whether somebody wants to open a business or not,” Major said. “They're not building anything that can't be used as a quote, unquote, normal home.”
‘This has really never been done before’
Melissa McChristian operates Ouray Family Childcare out of her home, a tidy white house that sits on the Uncompahgre River where Mount Abram looms in the distance.
McChristian and her family live upstairs and use the downstairs outside of business hours.
“It's an opportunity to be in a location that we probably would never have been able to be in financially,” McChristian said. “I knew I was cut out for it, and I could do it, and I could handle it, so I figured we'd give it a go.”
McChristian applied to live and work here through Bright Futures. While Rural Homes managed the construction side of the project, the early childhood council has been working with the two providers, including McChristian, offering individualized training, help with marketing and support for whatever else comes up.
“Because this has really never been done before, so we don't really have a script to go off of,” said Merritt.
After moving in early last year and using a large grant to buy tiny tables, bookshelves and cubbies, Ouray Family Childcare opened for business in March.
“I mean, it's ups and downs, the new business roller coaster with the unknowns. But I think I've gotten so used to what a new business looks like and riding that roller coaster that it's a little less stressful now,” said McChristian.
Learning how to do billing and scheduling has been a challenge. Enrollment was slow at first and still fluctuates. But McChristian is now taking the maximum number of babies each day, which is two for a small center like this.
“I’m probably set with babies and then with a wait list for three years,” McChristian said.
Kathleen Merritt, of Bright Futures, agrees that enrollment has been tricky, despite the regional childcare shortage.
“There has not been childcare availability here for years and so families have kind of figured it out. There won't be a scenario in any community where you open and the next day you have six children,” said Merritt.
‘Just not realistic’
Tiny Colorado Treasures, the second in-home daycare, is located at the other end of the street.
The provider, Estrella Piatt, had initially wanted to stay home with her young daughter after she was born, but decided she couldn’t afford it. Instead, Piatt dove into in-home childcare through RHECI.
After opening this spring, she now operates 11 hours a day plus some weekends. Business is going well, but home ownership is becoming difficult
“My initial plan was, you know, live in the home for two years, which is great, and then buy it,” Piatt said. “But that's just not realistic.”
The houses were purchased from Rural Homes by Mission Driven Finance, a community-focused investment firm that functions as a landlord for these two childcare businesses. For now, rent is subsidized– and well below market value– but goes up each year.
Between the cost of living and running a business, Piatt believes she just won’t be able to save enough to buy after renting for two years.
“I think we'll buy the home, hopefully within the next four years,” said Piatt.
One option is to expand. These homes are licensed for up to 12 children. So, if Piatt can find someone to hire next year, she will be able to do more business.
‘We’ll take it!”
Proponents of this project say that the co-location of a business and a home saves money on construction costs, utilities, rent and more. But, because they are intertwined, if the business doesn’t work out in the short term, the providers would need to find a new place to live.
Still, these two in-home childcares are putting a dent in the region’s shortage.
As the Hachtel family tries to hustle six-month-old Daisy and her older brother out the door of Ouray Family Childcare, Melissa McChristian shares some good news.
“We have a full time spot open so I wanted to offer it to you guys first,” McChristian said.
Meaning, Daisy can stay on full-time, starting in May.
“We’ll take it!” Sarah and Adam Hachtel said.
In this rural area, a handful of additional childcare spots can make a big difference. Other communities, like Steamboat Springs, have expressed interest in the project. Similar developments by Rural Homes, with the possibility of adding in pre-licensed childcares, are underway this year in Louisville, Longmont and Grand Junction.
