Denver hosts High Cost Cities Housing Forum to discuss affordability solutions

This week, Denver housing leaders hosted a meeting for the High Cost Cities Housing Forum, a group of city leaders who meet to discuss affordable housing solutions.

We've gotten together with thought partners from around the country, and so we're hosting leaders from Seattle, from San Francisco, from New York, from Washington D.C., from all across the country, and we're thinking together about you know what have we done in Denver that's been successful over the last couple of years, Cole Chandler, Chief Housing Officer and Executive Director of Denvers Department of Housing Stability said.

Chandler said leaders from other cities were particularly interested in two of Denver's affordable housing programs.

One of the things we talked about was our Affordable Housing Fundthat turned 10 years old just this year. Another piece that we've talked about is the D3 Agreement, which was the DHA Delivers for Denver agreement. That was an intergovernmental agreement that started in 2018, Chandler said.

Chandler said the Affordable Housing Fund was the first ever dedicated fund for affordable housing in Denver, made up of property tax revenue and a one-time fee on new development.

The D3 Agreement helped expedite a pipeline for affordable housing projects to help accomplish Denvers 5-year Housing Plan.

One of the things that I was interested to learn about from another city is something that they have called a Home Production Fund, which is basically a way for government to invest directly in the creation of affordable housing and actually take an ownership stake in that affordable housing, and then use that to help draw down equity and create more affordable units over time, Chandler said.

Chandler said Montgomery County in Maryland and Atlanta have both experienced success with the Home Production Fund.