New North Denver Community Part Of The Solution To Colorado's Housing Affordability Crisis
DENVER (CBS4) - As the snow came down in north Denver on Thursday, the walls went up on a rare kind of home in Colorado -- the affordable kind. Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver is turning property that was once home to a convent into 28 townhomes.
"We will sell these homes for about $300,000," Habitat CEO Heather Lafferty told Sen. Michael Bennet as he toured the Aria Homes by Habitat community.
It's the kind of development the Democrat is working to create more of statewide.
"There's not a town hall that I've had in 12 years where the issue of housing hasn't come up," Bennet said.
Colorado's senior senator put together a task force last year that included community leaders from across the state to come up with solutions.
"We're going to have think differently at the local level about things like zoning and at the federal level we're going to have to think differently about how the money flows," he said.
The task force's recommendations include not only financial incentivizes for development and streamlined zoning codes but tax incentives for employers that set up matching 401(k) type home savings programs for employees, programs that help those in public housing purchase their homes, resources to repurpose unused government and commercial properties, and creating a one stop shop for those in need of affordable housing. Bennet plans to turn many of the recommendations into legislation.
Lafferty, who sat on the task force, says the gap between what it costs to build homes and what people can afford is a growing problem. To lower costs, Habitat requires those who buy homes, like Rene Gallegos, a single mom, to help build them.
"Nail guns, ladders, you name it, stuff I never imagined doing," Gallegos told CBS4.
Habitat has also partnered with the Colorado Community Land Trust, which owns the land at Aria Homes by Habitat, cutting the sales price of the townhomes by a third.
Lafferty says building more houses on less land also helps reduce the price.
"We need to figure out as a community how to accept denser housing. We have 28 homes here on about an acre and everyone has their own home. They have shared space," she said.
For Gallegos, having a space to call home is something she once thought was out of reach.
"Here I am today moving into my two bedroom townhome in a community that I grew up in -- north Denver."
