Affordable housing project breaks ground in southeast Denver as affordability debate continues

DENVER — The Metropolis of Denver celebrated the groundbreaking of a brand new inexpensive housing venture on Wednesday.

The Kentro Group and Lexton McDermott broke floor on the Krisana Flats positioned on the previous Colorado Division of Transportation headquarters web site in Denver’s Virginia Village neighborhood. The advanced options 151 models of inexpensive housing.

The groundbreaking comes on the heels of a brand new ordinance that requires builders who’re setting up new tasks of 10 or extra models to make eight to 12% of the models as inexpensive housing.

The Krisana venture is 100% inexpensive, however the group plans so as to add market price housing on the location sooner or later, which might then be topic to the brand new ordinance.

The Condominium Affiliation of metro Denver says new constructing purposes declined by 88% because the Increasing Housing Affordability ordinance took impact on July 1, 2022.

“What it does is it kills funding in new housing,” stated Drew Hamrick, spokesman for the Condominium Affiliation of Metro Denver. “It’s even larger than I feel most of us predicted.”

However the Metropolis of Denver says these numbers don’t inform the total story.

“We won’t let individuals distort the story and indicate that growth has led to our metropolis,” stated At-Massive Metropolis Councilwoman Robin Kniech.

Kniech says though there was a 191% spike in constructing purposes previous to the ordinance taking impact, new purposes are starting to trickle again in.

“It’s identical to dashing to the grocery retailer earlier than the Tremendous Bowl,” Kniech stated. “After which there’s fewer individuals within the retailer for the Tremendous Bowl. It doesn’t imply individuals stopped grocery procuring, it simply means they went the day earlier than, proper?”

New purposes are coming in, in keeping with Kniech.

“We noticed 78 permits for brand new condo buildings within the metropolis and county of Denver within the six months after our coverage went into impact,” she stated.

The town believes the coverage is acceptable and can finally assist curb Denver’s affordability disaster for these making 60% of the world median earnings (AMI).

“As a result of we all know the residents of this metropolis are struggling to make ends meet,” Kniech stated. “They’re struggling to satisfy these excessive housing prices. That’s why we handed this coverage.”

Hamrick nonetheless believes the coverage misses the mark.

“The place we’re off-the-charts low in housing inventory is for individuals making 80 to 100% of AMI,” Hamrick stated. “And that’s the working center — your entry degree lecturers, policemen, firefighters, nurses — all of the individuals that almost all agree are actually getting pinched by this.”