What could social housing look like in Denver?

By Robert Davis

Denver’s lack of affordable housing has inspired creative solutions, from Safe Outdoor Spaces for the unhoused to cohousing for renters. Now, some local leaders are floating the idea of creating a social housing program in Denver to, as they say, provide some permanent relief from rising housing costs.

Photo: Brandon Griggs/unsplash

District 8 Councilmember Shontel Lewis introduced the idea during a Budget & Policy Committee meeting on August 7, when she proposed funding a study about creating a social housing program in Denver’s 2024 budget. She said the idea was one she heard consistently while on the campaign trail.

“What I am trying to get to is that we are taking a more comprehensive approach to how we are addressing the issues of housing and homelessness at the same time,” Lewis said during the meeting.

WHAT IS SOCIAL HOUSING?

The term “social housing” can refer to many things, but New York University’s Center on International Cooperation defines it as a model that prioritizes the “social value of housing for communities over its ability to generate profits for a select few.” These models can be subsidized by the government or run by not-for-profit entities.

Social housing and public housing are often talked about synonymously, but they serve different purposes. Social housing differs from public housing in that it can serve both middle and low-income households, whereas public housing is reserved for people earning the lowest incomes. Social housing units can be offered on the free market and frequently cap rents for tenants at 30% to 35% of their income. The economic blend of tenants in social housing development also allows for higher-income tenants to effectively subsidize rents for lower-income tenants. On the other hand, public housing operators often require vouchers to access and rely on government reimbursements to manage their cash flow.

Social housing is common in European countries like The Netherlands, where social housing units make up 29% of the overall housing stock, according to data from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Austria, Denmark, and England also have robust social housing programs.

Stateside, the idea is still relatively new. Seattle was one of the first U.S. cities to experiment with social housing when voters passed Initiative 135 in February. The initiative created a new development authority called the Seattle Social Housing Developer that is tasked with expanding the local public housing stock, but the entity’s work has yet to begin.

California legislators are also toying with the idea of creating a statewide social housing development authority. For example, Assembly Bill 309 would require the new development authority to build up to three social housing projects on excess state-owned land. Similarly, Senate Bill 555 and Senate Bill 584 would establish social housing development goals and levy additional fees and taxes against short-term rental properties to support social housing developments.

 Lewis told Denver VOICE in an interview that she has pitched the idea of creating a social housing program to some city councilors as well as constituents who call her office to talk about housing issues. She added the response has been mixed, with some expressing reservations about the legality of Denver owning and operating real estate and the practical aspects of the program itself.

“The reality is that this type of housing impacts a lot more people than we are currently talking about,” Lewis said.

A BUDDING MOVEMENT

Councilwoman Sarah Parady, one of Denver’s at-large representatives, told Denver VOICE in an interview that she supports the idea of creating a social housing model in the city. Outside of capping rents, Parady said social housing could also provide renters with more legal protections against eviction because renters who live in municipally-run social housing units would be able to assert their constitutional rights during a dispute.

However, there is an open question regarding whether Denver can own and operate real estate at all. Both Lewis and Parady said they believe Denver’s ordinances allow the city to own and operate its own housing developments. Parady also said the city attorney’s office disagrees with their perspective.

“I think the big question is whether we can convince people that social housing is worth the lift of cutting through all the complexity to make it happen,” Parady told Denver VOICE. “We have such a large affordable housing shortage and that has become so urgent that solving the problem is viewed as an uphill climb by a lot of people.”

While discussions about social housing in Denver are preliminary, there seems to be some disagreement about how a social housing model would work in Denver. One key component of this model is what’s known as “democratic resident control,” which essentially means that social housing tenants would form an association similar to a homeowners association.

 Shannon Hoffman, who advocated for social housing during her campaign for the District 10 seat on Denver City Council, said she would like social housing tenants to be required to serve on their tenant’s association as a way to promote a community dynamic within a building. She added that this idea is where her thinking diverges from other people she’s talked to about social housing.

“We need an innovative and creative solution to our housing crisis, and we need affordable rents,” Hoffman told Denver VOICE in an interview.

PRACTICAL CONCERNS

There is also the practical problem of creating a new social housing development entity outside of the Denver Housing Authority and finding land to accommodate social housing developments. Hoffman said there has been talk about introducing a ballot initiative to create such an entity, but those discussions are preliminary as well.

Land issues surrounding social housing may prove to be easier to navigate given Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s willingness to try innovative housing programs. For example, Johnston is working to fulfill his campaign promise to create micro-communities of tiny homes and shelters to help people escape homelessness. However, land the city identified that could support such sites is primarily concentrated in historically underserved communities, Axios Denver reported. Lewis added that she is concerned about further concentrating poverty in places in Denver that “have a lot of affordable housing already.”

Despite the disagreements, social housing supporters say the idea could help alleviate some of the pains caused by Denver’s unaffordable housing market. As of July 2023, there were just 563 homes for sale in Denver, a decline of 39% since July 2020, according to the Colorado Association of Realtors. Meanwhile, Denver’s median home price in Denver County was $696,500, which represents an increase of nearly 30% over the last three years. Similarly, the Metro Denver Apartment Association measured the city’s average rent at $1,870 in July, an increase of about 11% over three years. The average weekly wage in Denver, on the other hand, has only increased by 7.4% over the same time period, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows.

Hoffman said that the city’s affordable housing challenges are also straining the local community. Teachers, firefighters, and service industry workers all struggle to afford housing in Denver, and the city wouldn’t function well without them. To that end, a social housing program in Denver could provide a safety net for workers who can’t afford the cost of living, she said.

“We’re getting to the point where we don’t have much time left to sit back and think about this problem,” Hoffman said. “What we’ve been doing hasn’t worked, and we need to find new solutions.”