Illustration of various housing types
Financial feasibility analysis available for review and comment through August 19
Over the past several months, the Expanding Housing Affordability project has been conducting outreach, researching best practices from peer cities, and exploring the financial feasibility of different affordability requirements or fees.

As part of this project, the city is pursuing:  


  • an inclusionary housing program that would require new housing development to include affordable homes, and

  • additional incentives and off-sets to achieve greater affordability in new development.
Of critical importance is ensuring new requirements maintain financial feasibility. The city is using a financial feasibility model informed by data on real building costs, operating costs, rents and sales prices on recent projects. The model incorporates variations by geographic submarket and by development prototype/height. It does not yet reflect any incentives or off-sets that may be added over the course of this project, which would improve financial feasibility.

Please note: This is a draft of a technical report providing critical data needed to develop and evaluate future policy proposals. It is not a policy recommendation or a draft proposal.

Key themes identified from the first round of community input
From March - June 2021, city planners met with residents, affordable housing providers, commercial real estate groups, City Council offices and others, and heard a wide range of perspectives on housing. In addition to community meetings, the project team held focus groups, office hours, Community Connector sessions, and received written comments on feedback forms.

Some of the key themes that emerged included...
  • a desire to see the entire housing continuum addressed through complementary tools,
  • a need to explore incentives and be thoughtful about achievable policies,
  • concerns about involuntary displacement and whether new homes will be affordable for existing residents,
  • a desire for on-site construction of affordable units,
  • and a need to consider timing for implementation of new policies that may impact development investments already underway.
Housing development
Key themes are described on page 2 of the outreach summary, followed by details of who and how people participated.
New Colorado law allows for improved inclusionary housing programs
This spring, the Colorado state legislature passed HB21-1117, which allows Denver and other communities across the state to require affordable housing on all new for-sale and for-rent housing. Specifically, the bill…

  • Enables “local governments to regulate the use of land to promote the construction of new affordable housing units” 

  • Requires a “choice of options… and creates one or more alternatives to the construction of new affordable housing units on site”

  • Requires that local governments demonstrate their commitment to “increase the overall number and density of housing units… or create incentives to the construction of affordable housing units”  

  • Does not authorize a local government to adopt or enforce any ordinance or regulation that would have the effect of controlling rent on any existing private residential housing unit in violation of the existing statutory prohibition on rent control
Recent and upcoming meetings
Over the next two weeks, the project team will discuss these updates with City Council and Denver Planning Board. These are informational items only to ensure board and councilmembers are informed on the progress of this project. Neither group will take voting action on this project at these meetings.

An advisory committee meets periodically. Materials from these meetings are available online.
Video conference illustration
City Council Budget and Policy Committee
10 - 11 a.m. on Thursday, July 29

Planning Board informational item
3 p.m. on Wednesday, August 4
About this project
Denver has an immediate and growing need for housing. As costs go up, many families are spending more on housing, and many are being priced out of the neighborhoods they grew up in. To address that need, the city is working to create more options for everybody. This project will develop tools to encourage the construction of affordable and mixed-income housing across the city. New housing where people can live near jobs, transit and the services they need will help address housing demand and create a more sustainable Denver.

To learn about other housing initiatives underway, please visit DenverGov.org/housing.