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Tag: Affordable housing

Colorado Teachers Priced Out of Their Communities
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State, Approved, CBS Colorado

Colorado Teachers Priced Out of Their Communities

By Tori Mason | CBS Colorado A new survey of more than 3,200 educators in Colorado says the housing crisis is pushing teachers out of their communities, and in some cases, out of the profession. The Keystone Policy Center's report, We Can't Live Where We Teach: Teacher Perspectives, finds that more than half of educators are spending well above the recommended share of their income on housing, with some paying more than 40%. Nearly 6 in 10 say they would be interested in district-provided affordable housing, and 70% would be comfortable with their school district as their landlord. "Colorado's ability to deliver quality education depends on having committed, effective teachers in every classroom," said Van Schoales, senior policy director at the Keystone Policy Center. "This repor...
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Polis threatens to withhold $280M from cities defying housing laws in new executive order
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Polis threatens to withhold $280M from cities defying housing laws in new executive order

By Brandon Richard | Denver7 In a new executive order, Gov. Jared Polis identified more than 30 funding sources the state could withhold from cities. DENVER — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is turning up the heat on cities that aren’t following new state housing laws. He issued a new executive order on Wednesday that identifies $280 million in funding that could be withheld from them. It’s the latest development in a dispute between the governor and leaders of several cities over state housing laws, including laws to increase housing density near transit and another to ban certain cities from enacting or enforcing minimum parking requirements. “I hope that communities across the state do more on housing, but there's got to be some state minimum that you can't actively be part of ...
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From $6B to $950M: Denver’s ‘Vibrant’ bond trims housing while boosting cultural projects and road funding
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Denverite, Approved, Local

From $6B to $950M: Denver’s ‘Vibrant’ bond trims housing while boosting cultural projects and road funding

By Kyle Harris, Andrew Kenney | Denverite The Denver City Council made final changes to the debt proposal, which is likely heading to voters this November. Denver City Council members made tens of millions of dollars of changes to the Vibrant Denver bond proposal on Monday night. The council added funding for traffic calming measures for two major avenues, but reduced funding for affordable housing. The final package also includes more funding for an American Indian Cultural Embassy. The proposal would ask Denver voters this November to approve $950 million of debt funding for nearly 60 infrastructure projects, ranging from rebuilding bridges to building new parks and maintaining cultural attractions. On Monday, city leaders added: $15 million in funding for an Amer...
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New report blames bureaucracy, labor gaps for Colorado’s housing affordability crisis
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DENVER7, Approved, State

New report blames bureaucracy, labor gaps for Colorado’s housing affordability crisis

By Danielle Kreutter | Denver7 Mile High United Way, BuildStrong Foundation and McKinsey & Company collaborated on the in-depth housing report DENVER — A new report from Mile High United Way, BuildStrong Foundation and McKinsey & Company reveals that 51% of renters and 21% of homeowners in Colorado are cost-burdened. That means more than 30% of their income is spent on housing. But after surveying 200 various stakeholders involved in housing in Colorado, the report brought to the table six potential solutions to address the problem. Read the full report in the embed below: One solution was to improve plan review and permitting speeds. The report cited feedback that long redundant review processes can often delay projects. "There are technology solutions now ...
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Citizen sues Colorado Springs for ‘end run’ around TABOR in $40 million bond ordinance
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Fox21, Approved, Local

Citizen sues Colorado Springs for ‘end run’ around TABOR in $40 million bond ordinance

By Norishka Pachot | Fox21 (COLORADO SPRINGS) — A lawsuit has been filed in El Paso County District Court against the City of Colorado Springs and Mayor Yemi Mobolade over alleged TABOR and constitutional violations. The lawsuit by Preserve Pine Creek Village, LLC, alleges that the City violated multiple provisions of the Colorado Constitution, including the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), which requires voter approval before creating multi-year government debt. The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of a $40 million Private Activity Bond (PAB) issuance approved by the City Council on May 27. Tim Lewan, who lives in the Pine Creek Village area, says he donated to the legal fund because he’s been against the development of these apartments from the start. “We have been try...
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Study finds 70% of Colorado land zoned for housing prohibits affordable housing options
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Study finds 70% of Colorado land zoned for housing prohibits affordable housing options

By Brian Eason | Colorado Sun In the first comprehensive review of Colorado land use laws, the National Zoning Atlas found that you can build single-family homes almost anywhere. But apartments, condos and townhomes are widely prohibited. You can build a house almost anywhere in Colorado. You just can’t build one that most people can afford. That’s the stark takeaway from a landmark zoning report released last month by the National Zoning Atlas, a group of researchers who have spent the last two years conducting a first-of-its-kind study of land use codes across 334 Colorado cities, towns and unincorporated areas. The group found that on the vast majority of land, in the vast majority of Colorado communities, it’s not just difficult to build housing the average hou...
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$6 billion wish list, $800 million budget: Denver’s bond scramble is heating up
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Denverite, Local

$6 billion wish list, $800 million budget: Denver’s bond scramble is heating up

By Paolo Zialcita | Denverite Everyone wants a piece of the Vibrant Denver Bond pie. Denver has a rare opportunity to fund $800 million of capital projects in one fell swoop later this year — and everyone is clamoring for a piece of the pie.  If voters approve the measure this November the city will take out debt for a wide range of capital projects. But while $800 million may sound like a lot, it isn’t nearly enough to pay for everything city officials and residents want to build.  More than 220 projects appeared on an initial list the city is considering. Building all those projects would cost $6 billion, far more than what the city can afford. And whittling down the list hasn’t been easy.   The city’s cultural institutions — like the Boettcher Con...
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Priced out, packed in: Colorado renters squeezed by costs, policy gridlock and population growth
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Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Priced out, packed in: Colorado renters squeezed by costs, policy gridlock and population growth

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado’s affordable housing crunch – especially in the rental sector – has been building for years. Reports from the Common Sense Institute and Bell Policy Center trace the tipping point to around 2015, when demand consistently began outpacing supply. The last decade has seen rising home prices, stagnant wages and insufficient new construction which has made the situation worse due to recent immigration pressures and allegations of resource allocation issues. Origins and escalation of the crisis Bell Policy Center noted a statewide rental rate increase from 30.9% in 2009 to 34.8% by 2022, with urban counties like Denver reaching 50.1%.  In just a year, Colorado slipped further down the affordability scale, now rank...
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Gazette editorial board: Colorado’s green agenda is pricing out homeowners
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Approved, Commentary, denvergazette.com, State

Gazette editorial board: Colorado’s green agenda is pricing out homeowners

The Gazette editorial board | Denver Gazette Colorado’s governor and Legislature may claim they want more affordable housing — but they aren’t about to let it stand in the way of their headlong rush toward green energy. Their zero-emissions-at-any-cost dogma seems to trump all other policy priorities. Which helps explain why the state’s Energy Code Board is poised to impose extreme energy standards — even more stringent than those already in effect — on new home construction. The pending rules would turn the screws on wide-ranging aspects of the building code — and are projected to add tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of a new home in Colorado. That’s right — it’ll add $25,000 to $35,000, by one estimate, in what is already the most expensive state for housing that is not ...
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