NO.
If you believe, as we do, that Denver is in dire need of new housing to address the urgency of our housing affordability crisis, it may seem counterintuitive to vote down a ballot issue that claims to invest in affordable housing. But, like Ballot Issue 2R last year, we’re not convinced that 2E is a real solution to that problem.
Here’s the reality: The only way to even begin to address Denver’s housing affordability crisis is to build 37,500 to 55,000 new units annually through 2028. Despite its $59 million price tag, not one of the projects that 2E will fund has offered even a ballpark estimate of how many units of affordable housing will actually be built.
Every GO bond commits future tax revenue to long-term debt service. Transparent local accounting would show upfront what each project costs, how it’s funded, and what return (in units or affordability) the city gets for its investment.
Without clear accounting, voters can’t tell how much money will actually go to building homes versus administration, land banking, or interest. 2E does not specify how many, what kind, or even IF new units of housing will be built; it’s essentially asking voters to sign a blank check that locks the city into new obligations without revealing whether those dollars will ever produce real, livable units.
To reiterate what we said last year in response to Ballot Issue 2R, there are much more cost-effective policy solutions that would allow us to address the housing crisis much more quickly and at the necessary scale. They include:
- Zoning reforms to help bring back “missing middle” housing
- Streamlining permitting and giving people the right to build on their own property: allow the IRC to be used for small multi-family projects of 3-10 units
- Repealing minimum parking mandates (which we finally achieved this summer!)
- Reducing minimum lot sizes and setback requirements
- Enabling the construction of ADUs throughout the city (enhance existing regulation to allow in more areas & more flexibility)
- Allowing smaller scale, single-stair apartment building (in progress)
- Offering pre-approved plans so homeowners can start construction immediately
- Expediting public housing construction for low-income Denverites
- Fostering an ecosystem of incremental, small-scale developers
We care a great deal about the need for more housing in Denver. It’s one of our five key priorities as an organization. But unfortunately, Ballot Issue 2E won’t get us any closer to that goal.
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