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How 25 years of housing decisions boxed Colorado into a corner
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Approved, State, Yellow Scene

How 25 years of housing decisions boxed Colorado into a corner

By Santiago Nino | Yellow Scene Twenty-five years ago, Erie was just another small town on the Front Range, the kind of place you only thought about if you lived there. Scattered farmhouses sat under an endless sky, and families were happy to call the place their home. Then, developers saw money signs and started building houses, strip malls. The traffic followed.  Enough traffic to make any of these poor farmers lose it. Now, Erie is one of the fastest-growing towns in Colorado, growing more than 9% in the last year. Over the last 20 years, it became a haven for families priced out of Boulder and Denver. These families are chasing the American dream of a backyard, good schools, and a reasonable commute. For that, you have to live close to where you work. Developers saw opportunity, ...
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Perceptions of downtown Denver plummet despite $1.2B in investment
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Approved, denvergazette.com, Local

Perceptions of downtown Denver plummet despite $1.2B in investment

By Bernadette Berdychowski | Denver Gazette City leaders have stressed downtown Denver has several things going in its favor — reopening of 16th Street Mall, new businesses moving in, stronger police presence and $570 million of investment money. Despite efforts to make a comeback, optimism fell among the public last year. Perceptions of downtown grew more unfavorable in 2024, according to a preview of a Gensler report shown at the State of Downtown Denver breakfast event by the Downtown Denver Partnership held on Thursday. Gensler surveyed 500 people in Denver — from local visitors to residents and office workers — between September and October to gauge how downtowns across the country are performing. The full report hasn’t been released and is scheduled to come o...
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Colorado housing ‘crisis’ grows, advocates push for more money
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Approved, State, The Center Square

Colorado housing ‘crisis’ grows, advocates push for more money

By Elyse Apel | The Center Square Housing costs make Colorado one of the nation's most expensive states. This is according to a recent report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, which listed Colorado as the sixth least affordable state in the country. The report focused on low-income housing and affordable homes, finding that 79% of extremely low-income renters in Colorado have a “severe cost burden” when it comes to finding housing. Extremely low-income renter households are defined as those with incomes at or below the poverty level or 30% of their area median income, whichever is greater. In Denver, that is approximately $27,400 per year. “While Coloradans of nearly all income levels are experiencing difficulties with access to affordable housing, the cir...
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Young families left behind in Grand Valley’s housing construction
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Approved, Local, The Business Times

Young families left behind in Grand Valley’s housing construction

By Brandon Leuallen | The Business Times Scarcity of affordable housing emerged as a key reason School District 51’s enrollment declined by 2,049 students in the past 5 years. The impact of that decline was center stage at two District 51 Board of Education meetings last week, during which the board voted unanimously to close three elementary schools at the end of the 2024-25 school year. District 51 demographer Shannon Bingham collected data that showed lack of affordable housing, especially starter homes, was one of the primary factors in an overall reduction of the Grand Valley’s school-age population. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE BUSINESS TIMES
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With 11% apartment vacancy rate, its a good time to be a renter in Denver
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Approved, Denverite, Local

With 11% apartment vacancy rate, its a good time to be a renter in Denver

By Sarah Mulholland | Denverite Most Denverites have probably noticed all the apartment buildings being built in recent years. It turns out that those buildings are taking a while to fill — and that’s good news for renters. The vacancy rate for apartments in the metro Denver area was 11 percent as of October, according to real estate data company CoStar. That’s roughly double the vacancy rate of a few years ago, according to CoStar, which also owns Apartments.com, one of the biggest online rental portals in the U.S.  READ THE FULL STORY AT DENVERITE
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In rural school districts, creative solutions to house teachers being created
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Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

In rural school districts, creative solutions to house teachers being created

By Lindy Browning | Contributor, Rocky Mountain Voice From Deer Creek School District on the far Eastern Plains to Rangely on the western border of Utah, from Telluride and Aspen to Vail and Steamboat Springs, school districts all over rural Colorado are struggling with a need for affordable and available housing for teachers. In an effort to begin finding solutions for what school districts foresee as a long-term problem, Colorado Rural Schools Alliance (CRSA) hosted their first Rural Housing Forum in Beaver Creek on Thursday, Oct. 24. CRSA represents 146 of 178 school districts in Colorado. The remaining 32 are located in urban areas.  Chris Holbert, formerly a Colorado senator and Minority Leader, and current consultant for CRSA, doesn’t think that one-size solutions fit all sc...
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Denver City Council to vote on rezoning 70 acres around Ball Arena for housing
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Approved, CBS Colorado, Local

Denver City Council to vote on rezoning 70 acres around Ball Arena for housing

By Ashley Portillo | CBS Colorado On Monday night, Denver city council members will vote on rezoning the area around Ball Arena. The proposed project, if approved, would turn the parking lots around the facility into a residential neighborhood with plenty of retail space. The proposed project will help redevelop 70 acres of property around the arena. The agreement will pave the way for more affordable housing units and community investment opportunities, but first, the Denver City Council has to approve rezoning for the project. READ THE FULL STORY AT CBS COLORADO
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Mayor, supporters launch campaign for $100M sales tax hike for housing in Denver
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, Local

Mayor, supporters launch campaign for $100M sales tax hike for housing in Denver

By The Denver Gazette (via coloradopolitics.com) Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and supporters on Wednesday launched the campaign to ask Denver voters this November to increase the city's sales tax and generate $100 million for housing.  “In every neighborhood in Denver, people are grappling with the fear of not making rent or covering their mortgage,” Johnston said in a news release. “Seniors worry they may have to leave the homes where they’ve built their lives. The hardworking people who keep our city thriving — from teachers and nurses to restaurant workers and firefighters — are being pushed out of the city they love." Referring to the ballot proposal, Johnston said Measure 2R will help "preserve our city's diversity and ensure that housing remains affordable, atta...
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Does Denver have too many gas stations? City Council pushes new limits to save space for affordable housing.
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Approved, Local, The Colorado Sun

Does Denver have too many gas stations? City Council pushes new limits to save space for affordable housing.

By Michael Booth | The Colorado Sun Paul Kashmann says he’s not trying to shut off the gas pumps in Denver altogether. In fact, the service-minded Denver City Council member is still driving a gas car himself, and he doesn’t like high prices or long drives to stations any more than the next person.  But he is part of a City Council movement that sees construction of new affordable housing as more important for Denver right now than an additional place to gas up and grab a bag of chips. Kashmann and some colleagues are bringing a proposed ordinance for a 2024 committee green-light that would build buffers between proposed new gas stations, mass transit stops and residential housing.  READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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‘I’m opposed to the timing’: Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb pushes back on tax initiative
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Approved, CBS Colorado, Local

‘I’m opposed to the timing’: Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb pushes back on tax initiative

By Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb says now isn't the time to ask voters to approve a sales tax hike for affordable housing.   Webb says the measure, pushed by current Mayor Mike Johnston, will put a tax measure by Denver Health in jeopardy. "I'm not opposed to affordable housing, I'm opposed to the timing," Webb said. "I was surprised that Mayor Johnston, who has a lot of issues on his plate primarily around homelessness, did not delay it until the spring in order to get one of these issues passed." READ THE FULL STORY AT CBS COLORADO
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