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Colorado’s homelessness and housing funds recorded $153 million in phantom federal money, audit finds
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s homelessness and housing funds recorded $153 million in phantom federal money, audit finds

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado wanted more control over its share of federal pandemic aid before the money hit its federal spending deadlines. So in 2024, the state moved it. It pulled hundreds of millions in American Rescue Plan money back out of four state programs, three of them tied to housing and homelessness, and replaced it with state general funds, so it could spend the federal dollars elsewhere before the deadlines ran out. Then the Department of Local Affairs set those funds up in the state's accounting system as if they were still federal. Every time the department spent a state dollar out of the four programs, the system automatically booked a federal reimbursement that was never coming. By the end of the fiscal year the departm...
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Denver Neighborhood Blindsided by Plans for 400 Bed Homeless Shelter
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Denverite, Approved, Local

Denver Neighborhood Blindsided by Plans for 400 Bed Homeless Shelter

By Kyle Harris | Denverite Neighbors wonder why they had to find out online. Northeast Denver residents of Clayton learned online that the city wants to build its second-largest homeless shelter in their neighborhood. Then they gathered on Tuesday night to blast city officials for failing to tell them about the city’s plans.  “It feels kind of disingenuous to say we need more shelter space over here,” said Jes Driscoll, who sits on the board of the registered neighborhood group Clayton United. “That space is prime. It’s such a great spot for housing options. Shelter is not a housing option. It’s a place to stay.” The Department of Housing Stability (HOST) submitted plans in August to build two larger homeless shelter buildings in the working-class ...
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Poll Finds Socialists Now Outnumber Republicans Among Denver Voters
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Poll Finds Socialists Now Outnumber Republicans Among Denver Voters

By Nicole C. Brambila | The Denver Gazette More Denver voters identify as socialists than Republicans, continuing a three-year rise that comes on the heels of Democratic Socialist Melat Kiros’ upset primary victory over longtime U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette. Seventeen percent of Denver voters now identify as socialists, up from 12% last year and 11% two years ago, according to a new Colorado Polling Institute (CPI) poll. Just 15% of voters identify as Republican. The shift follows Kiros’ June victory over DeGette, a 15-term incumbent, by 13.4 percentage points or more than 21,100 votes, in the Democratic primary. The poll also depicts an electorate broadly positive about Denver: Most voters believe the city is headed in the right direction and nearly f...
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Greg Lopez Puts People Over Parties in Unaffiliated Bid for Colorado Governor
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KJCT-TV ABC 8, Approved, State

Greg Lopez Puts People Over Parties in Unaffiliated Bid for Colorado Governor

By Brianna Chappie | KJCT The unaffiliated-party nominee spoke with KKCO prior to his campaign stop in Clifton for Saturday evening. GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KJCT) - In KJCT’s continuing coverage of Colorado’s gubernatorial race, reporter Brianna Chappie spoke with unaffiliated-party nominee candidate, Greg Lopez, ahead of his campaign visit on Saturday. Lopez is an air force veteran, and seasoned politician— having served as mayor for the town of Parker, a Colorado Director for the Small Business Administration (SBA) and recently as a House Representative for Colorado’s 4th Congressional District. But now, instead of running as a Republican, Lopez is unaffiliated. “I didn’t leave the Republican party because all Republicans are bad or the Democrats are a...
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Denver Commits $5.3 Million To Turn ‘Bridge To Nowhere’ Into Stadium Connection
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Denver Commits $5.3 Million To Turn ‘Bridge To Nowhere’ Into Stadium Connection

By Nicole C. Brambila | The Denver Gazette The “bridge to nowhere” is closer to going somewhere. The Denver City Council on Monday accepted $4 million in a state grant and committing another $1.3 million toward a pedestrian bridge at Broadway Station. When completed, the bridge over the railroads and Regional Transportation District, or RTD, connecting the Broadway RTD station with the Summit FC Soccer Stadium and Santa Fe Yards development. City Councilwoman Flor Alvidrez expressed concerns about the project, which includes widening Santa Fe Drive, a vibrant and culturally rich commercial corridor that is home to more than 100 galleries, artist co-ops, studios and street murals. “More lanes do not create a safe, connected neighborhood,” Alvidrez said. ...
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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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