ESTES PARK, Colo The beauty of Colorados mountain towns comes with a growing challenge of finding an affordable place to live. Denver7 has spent years covering workers being priced out of the very communities they help keep run ning. Now, one Estes Park pizzeria says that same struggle is making it harder to find workers and forcing a major change in how it does business.Antonio's Real New York Pizza has been serving up East Coast-style pies in Estes Park since 2014, earning recognition along the way as the best pizza in Colorado by The Washington Post in 2023. Theres plenty of passion baked into every pie, with owner Anthony DeSousa proud to serve Estes Park an authentic taste of New York. Watch the Full Story BelowWhile pizza continues to come out of the oven, the dining room is empty with more than 100 seats now unused as the restaurant shifts to takeout only. DeSousa explained it was the decision he had to take due to a shortage of staffing. "We're known for our hospitality. People come in. My wife walks around and talks to everybody. I go talk to everybody. It's like your living room and without that, it's kind of cold. It's more like transactional, and that's not why we're here, but we're doing what we have to," DeSousa said.During the summer, DeSousa relies on an influx of international college students working through the J-1 visa program. But when the season changes, the workforce shrinks, and he says finding employees who can commute to Estes Park or afford to live there becomes much harder."We do not have enough of an available workforce and that's been compounded by rising home prices. The rentals here are just like what you'd find in Denver, extremely expensive," DeSousa said. DeSousa credits the housing authority with creating more options in Estes Park, but says there is still more work to be done."However, I don't think that there's enough of a push," said DeSousa. "The push is all about marketing and Visit Estes Park is doing an incredible job. They're pounding us. The problem is, we don't have the carrying capacity to hold this place up."The number of people calling Estes Park home has remained relatively steady, but finding an affordable home has become increasingly difficult. Scott Moulton, executive director of the Estes Park Housing Authority, said more properties becoming second homes has put a sharper focus on preserving affordable options for local residents. "The need is broad, and we are trying to focus on, over the next few years on expanding what is available to the lower urge, lower wage earners or those that need the lower income housing solutions," Moulton said.In the last 24 months, Moulton said they have added more than 200 units to the local workforce inventory and recently acquired a property known as Tiny Town that is a little over ten acres. Moving forward, he hopes the business community will help push housing solutions forward by supporting proposed projects and connecting workers with available resources. "I think housing will continue to be a struggle for years to come, but there is now local resources dedicated and most importantly, there's local funding. While the monetary need is significant having a local funding tool has allowed us to do what we've been able to do in the last 24 months and really helps close that gap, and how we're able to provide additional housing across the broad spectrum," Moulton said.DeSousa plans to reopen the dining room on December 1, when several returning international employees are expected back. In the meantime, for Coloradans hungry for work, the pizzeria is hiring with applications online. ...read more read less