Three years after it was originally proposed, an ordinance in Denver requiring a given number of affordable housing units in all residential projects is now being actively implemented.
What is officially called the Expanding Housing Affordability ordinance mandates that any new development with ten or more units must have a maximum of 15% of building space designated as affordable housing.
Originally announced in 2022, the ordinance’s enforcement has been delayed for three years due to the large number of site development plans submitted to the city. Developers hoped to see approval of such plans before the Expanding Housing Affordability ordinance became law.
According to the Denver Housing Authority, the city in recent years has been at least 50,000 units short of the number needed to house lower income residents..
Supporters of the ordinance, notes the publication Denverite, have argued that it is an “important tool ensuring developers build more than just luxury housing for those making well over the area median income.”
The ordinance has attracted opposition from developers as well as the Colorado Apartment Association, which has asserted that it will only cost developers more to complete any given project, and that in the end that cost would be passed on to middle- and upper-income renters.
The think tank Common Sense Institute of Colorado asserts that rents on an average apartment in Denver would have to be increased by at least $80 a month to offset new development costs. To that end, said the institute in a study, the Expanding Housing Affordability ordinance “acts as a hidden tax on renters.”
In an official posting, the City of Denver has said that the new ordinance will ultimately secure housing for those in the city who need it the most. The posting also reminds developers that the ordinance offers “zoning and financial incentives, such as flexible parking requirements, height incentives, and permit fee reductions.”
May 2, 2025
By Garry Boulard
