"If you feel like it's getting harder and harder to live in Denver, you are correct," Johnston said at the beginning of the meeting. "Rents and mortgage costs are going up way faster than people's incomes are. That's why we're so worried about this."
New data from the mayor's office shows that the median income in Denver doubled from 2000 to 2022, going from $40,000 to $84,000 — but the median home price more than tripled during the span, from $165,500 to $525,000. Meanwhile, the median cost of Denver rent nearly tripled, from $630 to $1,870, according to the mayor's office.
"Right now, 50 percent of the people who are renting in Denver today cannot afford to live in Denver," Johnston said. "That means they are paying more than 30 percent of their income to rent. If you spend more than 30 percent of your income on rent, you cannot pay the rest of the bills in your stack."
Johnston said the city will step up efforts to provide home rental and down payment assistance. He also mentioned that the Denver City Council is near approval of a citywide rezoning ordinance that will allow more residents to build Accessory Dwelling Units.
The main idea that Johnston proposed was the "Affordable Denver" half-cent sales tax proposal, which would fund 44,000 cost-controlled units and will be on the Denver ballot in November.
Johnston cautioned that if Denver doesn't pass this sales tax, it could turn into San Francisco.
"Every one of those units would have a commitment that if you're in one of those units, you do not pay more than 30 percent of what you make," Johnston promised. "The truth is you can only live in San Francisco if you're rich. We do not want Denver to be a city where only the rich live."
The town hall was held for residents in City Council District 10, which covers downtown Denver, Union Station, the Golden Triangle, Capitol Hill and Congress Park. District 10 Councilman Chris Hinds spoke alongside Johnston.
“We live in the Mile High City, and I’m close to thinking we need a mile-high income to live here,” Hinds said. “I’ve been on council for five years, and I’ve seen affordability change a lot in that time.”
Mayor Mike Johnston and Councilman Chris Hinds spoke to District 10 residents about housing affordability at Carla Madison Rec Center.
Bennito L. Kelty
Lisa Pope, the founder and president of the Upper Downtown Neighborhood Association, told Westword she attended the town hall to “support the mayor and figure out what affordable housing means for downtown.”
“Rents are expensive,” Pope said. “I came because I want to hear what the plans are for affordable housing and how they plan to bring more of that downtown, so that we can get even more people in our downtown area, which all of our restaurants and businesses and economy need.”
David Carlow, a retired nurse, told Johnston that he wants "guys like me to be able to live downtown. Right now, it's just luxury apartments that someone who is paid the same as me can't afford." Carlow, who lived on 16th Street for ten years, said "there's no way I can live there" now because of housing prices.
Bobbi Ewelt, a teacher at the Carla Madison Rec Center, where the town hall was held, said that she previously owned a home downtown in the early 2000s. But when she sold it a few years ago, all she could buy was a condo. Fellow District 10 resident Roel Cuejilo said that he knows people spending $1,400 a month for studio apartments.
Residents asked the mayor to spread luxury and affordable apartments throughout the city, to ensure that local real estate developers account for the majority of work in Denver, and try to raise wages.
"I hope we're trying to spread out all that higher-end apartments around town so they're not all in one part," one resident suggested. Another resident agreed, saying "downtown is all luxury housing."
"I think instead of just making housing cheaper, we should be making sure that people working in the city aren't living paycheck to paycheck," another said.
Residents were largely supportive of the work that Johnston had done in his first year, however. The small crowd applauded Johnston after he talked about sweeping large homeless encampments in northern Capitol Hill, in downtown Denver and along 17th and 18th avenues near the hospital district, and keeping homeless residents from returning.
"If you remember three and half months ago, you probably remember there were huge encampments," Johnston said. "We had very dense concentrations of encampments. There are now no tents anywhere from here through all of downtown."
Johnston added that the city isn't seeing any more "large thirty, forty, fifty, a hundred-person encampments like we did a year ago. We have more of two or three folks under a bridge."
One resident from the Golden Triangle was concerned about the Elati Village micro-community for homeless residents, saying "I want to know to how the tiny homes are going to affect the allocation of permanent housing units in the area. There should be specific attention to that region."
The town hall was part of a series of Community Conversations about affordability, part of Johnston's Citywide Goals 2024 plan to make Denver safer, more vibrant, affordable and better governed. Johnston wrapped up a series of ten Community Conversations on June 26 that were focused on safety.
On Tuesday, July 23, Johnston will hold another town hall in District 3 in the west Denver. During a town hall about city safety in May, residents complained about homeless individuals being pushed out of downtown and into their parks and neighborhoods. That conversation will be at the Mulroy Opportunity Center, 3550 West 13th Avenue, at 5:30 p.m. with Councilwoman Jamie Torres.
The day after, another affordability conversation will be on July 24 in District 2 in southwest Denver. It will be held with Councilman Kevin Flynn at the Harvey Park Recreation Center, 2120 South Tennyson Way, at 5:30 p.m. Residents can find details on other scheduled Community Conversations on the mayor's community outreach page.
