A menagerie of Western Slope affordable housing advocates, government officials and financial minds convened on an undeveloped lot Thursday afternoon, at the end of a road not yet labeled on digital mapping services, to turn some of the first shovelfuls of dirt on the latest Grand Junction Housing Authority project.

The occasion was monumental not just because it represented the start of construction for 54 moderately priced apartments in a city known for expensive housing, but because it marked the end of a harrowing journey to finance the long-awaited building.

“I’m not going to lie to you, this has been tough,” Grand Junction Housing Authority CEO Scott Aker said. “It has been long, it has been hard … I have a much better understanding of what, ‘Getting to yes’ really means.”

The bui

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