To enhance the viability and stability of diverse and inclusive neighborhoods, policies and incentives should support the working families, who are homebuyers, homeowners, renters, and those who are unhoused, attain financial and housing stability. As a matter of sound public policy, we should not be providing incentives to developers. We seek to promote strategies that strengthen neighborhoods and provide economic security for residents, such as the following:
- Expansion of State of Colorado's tax credits for affordable and low-income housing;
- Protect Denver's legacy businesses for women-owned and BIPOC small businesses from displacement;
- Increase developer linkage fees to construct affordable housing. Denver only charges pennies per square foot while comparable cities charges up to $30.00 per square foot when a developer pulls a permit for construction. Fees collected are used by cities to construct affordable housing; however, Denver's remain so low as to ensure that no affordable housing can be built to address our needs;
- Expansion of property tax credits for seniors aging in place (allow for loan program to assist with rebates);
- Expansion of foreclosure prevention and eviction protection programs for residents as a result of pandemic;
- End ordinances and policies that criminalize Denver's unhoused;
- Safe Streets, Vision Zero, and Open Streets should mean protecting Black, Brown, Indigenous, trans, and disabled people in public spaces, including transit;
- Increase funding for vouchers for persons experiencing homelessness;
- Construction of public housing owned and operated by public agencies or community trusts guaranteeing accountability, transparency, and access to housing;
- Utilize "housing first" model to prioritize housing for our unhoused neighbors;
- State legislation to allow for local governments to mandate affordable housing, tenant protections, and rent control;
- Down payment assistance or low-interest loans for homebuyers;
- Mandate through ordinance "deconstruction requirements" or fees imposed to encourage reuse of existing structures and decrease pollution and waste in landfills. Fees could be used to build more affordable housing, create more green spaces, and implement strategies to promote sustainability;
- Encourage through tax credits adaptive reuse of buildings;
- Partner with nonprofit housing providers to construct affordable housing;
- Provide trash receptacles, mobile restrooms, and hand washing stations throughout city;
- Targeted enhancements of schools, streetscapes, transit, libraries, parks and recreational facilities within plan areas and especially in areas of historic disinvestment;
- Mandating all parkland acquired for use via developer incentive be designated parkland under City Charter:
- Require that City embrace and implement anti-racist approach to transportation and community planning. City excluded entire communities, including those individuals whose primary language is not English from what should have been a public process;
- Establishment of individual development accounts and matching funding to provide stability for low-wealth households;
- Divest from the theory of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design or CPTED, an approach used by Denver Community Planning and Development to manipulate the built environment to create “safer neighborhoods.” CPTED has been enshrined within plans especially for social housing projects, encouraging the surveillance and enforcement of public and shared spaces, creating overpolicing of Black, Indigenous and People of Color;
- Expansion of Colorado's Earned Income Tax Credit for working families from 10% to 20% refundable tax credits;
- Allow advanced EITC filing requests for state benefits putting more money in the pockets of working families when they need it;
- Reinstatement of Denver's Earned Income Tax Credit of 20% for working families, which was suspended in 2013;
- Support for living wages and job training programs for displaced and low-income workers;
- Utilize land trust models to acquire, preserve, and develop real estate for affordable and low-income housing stock, schools, and community centers to ensure long-term community benefits;
- Provide tax credits for individuals to provide affordable units as rentals in mother-in-law apartments or ADUs;
- Free RTD passes for Denver schoolchildren up to 18 years of age;
- Instead of dedicated bus lanes in each direction and moving bus traffic to the center of Colfax, utilize a dedicated bus lane as in Broadway/Lincoln in rush hour and limit car traffic such as HOV lanes with improved signals, ticketing and shelters. Do this now. Go Bond funds can be used today. See the impacts and benefits now. The construction costs would be minimal. We need sidewalks and connections to BRT now.
- Make transit free or significantly reduce fares;
- Implement a tax during peak times on Uber and Lyft for ride shares that contribute to congestion and invest proceeds into transit improvements, including sidewalks, bike ways and mass transit;
- Provide tax credits for Denver companies that subsidize RTD bus passes for their employees.
These examples provide tangible benefits to the public, not corporations and developers. The plan needs to define how it supports inclusiveness, affordability, sustainability, and diversity and what resources will be dedicated to ensure those goals. If Denver is serious about addressing homelessness, it should repeal ordinances that criminalize a person's lack of economic security now.
Our schools are already overcrowded at Teller and East High. We recently were advised of the lead service lines affecting drinking water supplies in Denver's inner city neighborhoods. Denver Water says it will take up to 15 years to replace lead service lines. Nothing in the plan provides resources needed or recommends funding for housing, infrastructure, schools, and transit. In addition, upzoning makes investments from developers more attractive and may lead to more scrapes and loss of existing affordable single and multi-family housing. It increases the value of the land and decreases affordability. Displacement and loss of affordability have already occurred in many neighborhoods in Denver, such as Five Points, Lo-Hi and Highlands. Rents and home values have increased dramatically while diversity and affordability have substantially decreased.