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Tag: Affordable housing

Denver Mayor Defends City Policies While Mapping Out Housing Expansion Plan and Universal Childcare Goal
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Denver Mayor Defends City Policies While Mapping Out Housing Expansion Plan and Universal Childcare Goal

By: Deborah Grigsby | The Denver Gazette Nearly a year after Denver cut city jobs to close a $250 million budget gap, Mayor Mike Johnston used his third State of the City address to promise universal childcare and 20,000 homes as part of a new redevelopment vision connecting seven major sites by transit, bicycle and pedestrian routes. Johnston took center stage on Tuesday at the National Western Center, replacing his 2025 city theme “Capital of the New West” with “the open frontier,” as he laid out an ambitious plan for Denver’s future. Among the guests attending Johnston’s address were Gov. Jared Polis, Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Weiser, former Denver mayors Michael Hancock and Federico Peña, and Melat Kiros, the Democratic socialist wh...
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Inside the Golden Range project: How public land and taxpayer dollars shape affordable housing
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Inside the Golden Range project: How public land and taxpayer dollars shape affordable housing

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Seeing an “affordable housing” project from the inside. I wrote about a project to build so-called affordable housing on a weird little quadrangle of land up near Golden, the Golden Range project. The newsletter from March of this year is linked first below if you’d like to go review. After talking to their media person, I set a reminder to follow up later in this year to see about any new developments. The project was just in its infancy when I wrote about it before. If it was in its infancy in March, it’s now in its toddlerhood. We are still a long ways from the end, but I have some updates to share. As the title of this post suggests, this will be one of multiple updates on this project; its a great...
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Colorado wants your input on where affordable housing tax credits go
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado wants your input on where affordable housing tax credits go

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project The Colorado Housing and Finance Authority is accepting public comment on proposed changes that will help determine how affordable housing tax credits are awarded across the state. In the commentary below, Cory Gaines argues Coloradans should pay closer attention to the Qualified Allocation Plan, the document that guides those funding decisions and influences which housing projects receive state-supported financing. Colorado Housing and Finance Authority wants comments on where they distribute housing money I do a weekly sweep of public notices for my town and often share them. This one actually applies to the whole state, so I'm sharing it as a full on post. Before looking at what this is in friendlier, l...
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Denver’s Right of First Refusal Puts Government in the Middle of Private Property Sales
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Denver’s Right of First Refusal Puts Government in the Middle of Private Property Sales

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project I saw a post by a reader on Twitter recently. It shows how Denver is proposing to implement a 2024 law passed by the state legislature. Let’s start with the 2024 bill. It’s linked first below. I took a screenshot of the bill’s fiscal note summary and attached those as screenshots 1 and 2. As you can see from the highlight in screenshot 2, it just wouldn’t be Colorado if we didn’t throw a bone or two to nonprofits. In summary, the bill allows local governments (for buildings of a certain size depending on whether your municipality qualifies as urban or rural/resort) either the right to purchase a property if it’s already listed as affordable housing for “an economically or substantially ...
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Colorado Affordable Housing Law Could Cut Off Funding to Most Cities Without Urgent Fix
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado Affordable Housing Law Could Cut Off Funding to Most Cities Without Urgent Fix

By Brian Eason | The Colorado Sun The problem stems from a provision in Proposition 123 that was supposed to hold local governments accountable for increasing the supply of affordable housing. The vast majority of local governments in Colorado could be barred from receiving affordable housing funding through Proposition 123 for the next three years unless the state legislature steps in to prevent it. The problem stems from a provision in the 2022 ballot measure that was designed to hold local governments accountable for increasing the supply of affordable housing. To remain eligible for the $350 million a year that the measure generates, cities and counties must show that they’re increasing their local supply of affordable housing by 3% a year. But h...
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Does affordable housing mean subsidized housing?
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Colorado Accountability Project, Commentary, State

Does affordable housing mean subsidized housing?

By Cory Gaines | Colorado Accountability Project The more I read into what the Democrats running this state think affordable housing ought to mean, and how it ought to get done, the more I’m convinced that what they’d like to do is to equate affordable with (in one way or another) publicly-funded housing. The Sun article linked below offers pretty good evidence. It details a couple of proposals by Democrats. Quoting: “Solutions to Colorado’s lack of affordable housing for teachers and other key staff are slowly taking shape, with one new state program designed to offer an estimated 200 low-interest mortgages to rural educators and district staff. Another potential program, part of legislation that Democrat state Sen. Jeff Bridges plans to introduce this week, would all...
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Colorado Energy Mandates Stir Growing Debate Over Housing Affordability
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Energy Mandates Stir Growing Debate Over Housing Affordability

By Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado Over the last 10 years, Colorado has become one of the most energy efficient states in the country, and one of the most unaffordable as the cost of housing has soared. Roger Lovell, Building Official at the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department, says it's no coincidence. "The big driver from an affordability standpoint is the cost of compliance with the latest energy codes," Lovell said. Lovell says Colorado's energy mandates have gone too far. "Now when you're designing the home, you have to bring on an energy consultant," he said. There's no national energy code, so most states adopt standards developed by the International Code Council. It assigns a point value for energy efficiency to everything fr...
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Colorado Bill Would Let Select Housing Projects Bypass Local Zoning Rules
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Colorado Bill Would Let Select Housing Projects Bypass Local Zoning Rules

By Danielle Kreutter | Denver7 Advocates say HB26-1001 will make it easier to build affordable housing; critics warn it takes away local control. DENVER - A bill that would allow certain landowners — such as schools and affordable housing nonprofits — to bypass certain local zoning restrictions is heading to committee. HB26-1001, or the HOME Act, is heading to the House Transportation, Housing and Local Government Committee on Tuesday. Qualifying properties can be no more than five acres and must belong to: - A nonprofit organization that historically has provided affordable housing- A nonprofit that works in public transit- A nonprofit that is in agreement with an affordable housing nonprofit- A school district- A state college or university- A housing aut...
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When “affordable housing” means government-funded housing in Colorado
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, State

When “affordable housing” means government-funded housing in Colorado

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Volker Housing, Part 1 During one of my public notice crawls for Logan County/Sterling, there was a notice about a developer applying for a grant from the state to turn an empty parcel of land into an affordable housing development. That notice in full can be found in the first link below, but the pertinent bit is quoted here: “Volker Housing Partners, LLC will submit an application to the Colorado Division of Housing (DOH). The purpose of this application is to request up to $2,000,000 in funding to develop 54 rental homes at 777 N 4th Street in Sterling, CO. “ A reader sent me an email and suggested that I look in on this company a little, and I agreed. If they’re pulling down $2 million, wha...
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Colorado Democrats Move Quickly Toward Greater State Oversight In First 20 Bills
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Democrats Move Quickly Toward Greater State Oversight In First 20 Bills

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics Lawmakers from Colorado’s House of Representatives have introduced their first 20 bills of the session, which are often their top priorities for the year. In 2026, priorities include labor unions, increased affordable housing, and consumer protections. The very first bill read across the House desk, House Bill 1001, was introduced by sponsors last month during a press conference with Gov. Jared Polis. The bill, which sponsors are calling the HOME ACT, would allow schools, nonprofit organizations, and transit centers to use underutilized land to build affordable housing. “Colorado lacks over 100,000 homes, and we need creative solutions to address this housing shortage,” said sponsor Speaker Pro Tempore Andy Boesenecker...
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