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5 Quarters Later : An Examination of Denver ’ s Inclusionary Housing Ordinance
By Scott Rathbun
It would be a safe bet to say that most real estate professionals , especially those of us who work in housing , are aware of the City and County of Denver ’ s ( Denver ’ s ) current inclusionary housing ordinance , known as “ Expanding Housing Affordability ” ( EHA ). According to Denver ’ s website , the EHA project started in 2020 and over a two-year period , city staff worked with various stakeholders from both the public and private sectors to develop a new inclusionary housing policy . In May 2021 , Governor Polis set the table for inclusionary housing when he signed
HB21-1117 , allowing local governments to require developers to include affordable units in new projects . The first draft of the policy was issued on October 1 , 2021 , and after numerous discussions and public meetings , Denver City Council voted to approve the EHA on June 6 , 2022 . The EHA became effective on July 1 , 2022 , although projects that were in the city ’ s development process before that date were allowed a specified period to finish permitting without triggering the new affordability requirements .
The details of the policy are somewhat complicated , but in simple terms , the EHA requires all residential developments of 10 or more units to include a specified ratio of affordable housing ( i . e ., subsidized by the developer and / or the other residents ) for a period of 99 years , regardless of whether the home is for rent or for sale . For rental properties , the policy requires 8 % to 10 % of total units to be subsidized for renters at 60 % of the Area Median Income ( AMI ) or 12 % to 15 % of total units to be subsidized with an effective average of 70 % AMI , depending on a project ’ s location . In return for these subsidized units , Denver offered certain incentives , such as reductions in required parking ratios and reductions in certain fees , including reduced permit fees and linkage fees . Notably , the inducements did not include significant financial incentives , such as tax abatement . And while there is a fee-in-lieu option , it was
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