Mayor Mike Johnston is pushing a plan to create 44,000 units of affordable housing over the next 10 years through a new sales tax.
“Denver can’t afford to wait,” he said.
He’s calling his proposal the Affordable Denver Fund, and he says passing it and creating housing is urgent if Denver is going to remain a desirable place to live.
“The old rules say you can't both drive economic growth in the city and maintain affordability,” Johnston said. “We refuse to believe that. We believe Denver can be the fastest-growing economic engine in the West. And it can be the place where you can still afford to live.”
Johnston, who was surrounded by 100 supporters when he announced his proposal, accurately portrayed Denver as a place where many teachers, seniors and recent college graduates can’t afford the basics.
If the economy continues as is, affordability will float further out of reach for working and middle-class people. Denver could become a city for nobody but the wealthy, as the people who make the city function move far away.
“What we know is if we do nothing, 10 years from now, all of those Denverites will be gone,” he said. “They will have been pushed out or priced out or moved out to someplace else. And that is a future we refuse to accept.”
