skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Saturday, July 27, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Arson attacks paralyze French high-speed rail network hours before start of Olympics, the Obamas endorse Harris for President; A NY county creates facial recognition, privacy protections; Art breathes new life into pollution-ravaged MI community; 34 Years of the ADA.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Harris meets with Israeli PM Netanyahu and calls for a ceasefire. MI Rep. Rashida Tlaib faces backlash for a protest during Netanyahu's speech. And VA Sen. Mark Warner advocates for student debt relief.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

There's a gap between how rural and urban folks feel about the economy, Colorado's 'Rural is Rad' aims to connect outdoor businesses, more than a dozen of Maine's infrastructure sites face repeated flooding, and chocolate chip cookies rock August.

Report: Colorado's Housing Affordability Crisis Calls for Strategic Investments

play audio
Play

Wednesday, April 26, 2023   

Housing affordability has become a top priority for Colorado lawmakers and voters, and a new report from an organization with nearly four decades of experience in the sector makes a case for how new federal and state resources should be prioritized.

Cathy Alderman with the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless said policymakers should resist the urge to invest in housing considered affordable for middle and higher income families, because they actually have other options.

"When you are using very limited public resources, you have to target that for low income households, or for those living on fixed incomes or no incomes," Alderman urged. "Because without government intervention, those households will never be able to access and afford housing."

The Colorado Apartment Association has called for developer-friendly solutions they believe will increase the supply of housing units, including grants, tax credits, permit-fee reductions, and rezoning. Lawmakers are considering a land use proposal to make it easier to add more townhomes, duplexes and so-called mother-in-law additions, but the measure has faced significant pushback from single-family neighborhoods.

More than 21,000 existing housing units in Denver are currently unoccupied, more than enough to house all the estimated 10,000 people experiencing homelessness across the state. But owners can currently write off vacant units as losses or business expenses.

Alderman argued the marketplace is not equipped to solve a crisis created by decades of underinvestment at the federal level.

"Housing is not a normal commodity," Alderman emphasized. "If you just create more unaffordable housing, that's not going to solve the housing crisis. So supply has to be tied to affordability."

Without targeted investments, Alderman contended homes for the state's lowest-income households will not be built or preserved. Meanwhile, rents in Colorado have increased by more than 20% during the past two years, and families have been forced to spend more of their limited income on housing.

"Meaning they have fewer resources for child care, for healthy food, transportation," Alderman outlined. "Which is a real strain on a household's budget. And can put them at risk of falling into the cycle of homelessness, because one event in their life could mean they can't make rent payments."

Disclosure: The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless contributes to our fund for reporting on Budget Policy and Priorities, Health Issues, Housing/Homelessness, and Poverty Issues. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
According to the Tax Policy Center, for higher-income earners, sales taxes consume a lower share of their income than for other households. (Vitalii Vodolazskyi/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

As Nebraska state lawmakers convene for a special session on property tax reform called by Gov. Jim Pillen, groups are weighing in on the details …


play sound

Traveling around rural Minnesota can be difficult but in more than half the state, nonprofit transit systems are helping people get where they need …

Social Issues

play sound

Student loan forgiveness took center stage on Thursday at the American Federation of Teachers conference. The Biden administration has canceled more …


Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has introduced legislation to codify the Chevron Deference into law. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Recent Supreme Court rulings on air pollution are affecting Virginia and the nation. Climate advocates said the court overstepped its bounds in …

Health and Wellness

play sound

World Hepatitis Day is this Sunday, and for the Oregon Health Authority, it's an opportunity to promote its plan to eliminate hepatitis across the …

The Gender Shades project revealed facial recognition performed poorest for darker-skinned women, and performed best for lighter-skinned men. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Columbia County, New York, is implementing new facial recognition and privacy policies, following new upgrades to the county's surveillance cameras…

Health and Wellness

play sound

New York disability-rights advocates are celebrating the 34th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The 1990 …

Social Issues

play sound

As summer winds down and North Carolina students prepare to return to school, the focus shifts to the urgent need for better public education funding…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021