Affordable Housing is on the Ballot in Denver this November

The affordable housing crisis in Metro Denver is only growing more urgent. According to a recent Colorado Health Foundation survey, nearly 90 percent of Colorado residents view the cost of housing as a serious concern, up from less than 70 percent in August 2020. And 71% of residents are worried they will not be able to afford to live in Colorado in the future.

The data in Metro Denver backs up the survey’s impressions – more 25% of all households in Metro Denver are cost-burdened by housing, meaning many low- and middle-income households are on the verge of losing their safe housing, or must make difficult financial decisions to be able to keep their homes.

This November, Denver voters have the opportunity to vote on additional funding for affordable housing and combat these trends.

About the measure

Mayor Johnston’s Affordable Denver Fund or ballot measure 2R would use a new sales tax to create 44,000 units of affordable housing in the city over the next 10 years. The 0.5% sales tax increase would create flexible funding that could be used in several ways – to build new affordable units, finance accessory dwelling units (ADUs) where they are permitted, pay for rental assistance for low-income families, and preserve existing affordable housing units whose affordability requirements are set to expire.

The measure was approved by Denver’s city council in early August and has been endorsed by dozens of Metro Denver housing organizations. We believe that this ballot measure provides important, additional funding and offers an effective solution to one of our community’s most urgent problems.

Why we’re for it:

Through existing funding, Denver is on track to deliver roughly 19,000 affordable homes over the next decade, or nearly 2,000 a year. But that falls short of what is needed – and this additional funding will help fill the gap.

As an affordable housing developer, we could use this flexible funding to build and preserve more affordable homeownership projects and help reverse Denver’s housing shortage sooner.

This ballot measure meets an urgent need, but it’s not a short-term solution. This initiative provides ongoing funding that will support housing affordability for years to come.

This funding would make our city more affordable for vital members of our workforce, including teachers, nurses, first responders and technicians.

If measure 2R passes, Habitat Metro Denver can use the funding created by this ballot measure to develop more affordable, for-sale home ownership opportunities in the city. That’s exciting because we know that homeownership provides wealth-building opportunities, healthier kids, healthier families and more stable communities.

Habitat has been building housing that families can afford across Metro Denver for over 45 years. As a home provider and builder, this initiative will allow us to provide more homes – sooner – to hardworking Coloradans in the Denver metro area.

We encourage Denver voters to learn more about the measure and vote in the city elections this November.