Affordable Housing is on the Ballot this November

The affordable housing crisis in Colorado is only growing more urgent. 25% of all households in Metro Denver, and nearly 50% of Colorado renters, are cost-burdened by housing.

This means that many of our neighbors are on the verge of losing safe housing – and many more have to make difficult financial decisions to be able to keep their homes. 88% of Coloradans agree – rising housing costs are an extremely serious problem.

The good news: This November, for the first time ever, affordable housing will be on the ballot in Colorado.  

Make Colorado Affordable – also called Proposition 123 – would put up to 0.1% of the state’s existing taxable income towards solving our housing crisis. Without raising taxes, the proposition would create approximately $300 million every year for the state to spend on affordable housing and other housing-related causes. The measure has been endorsed by dozens of Colorado organizations – including our team at Habitat Metro Denver.

We believe that this ballot measure provides an effective solution to one of our state’s most urgent problems.

Why we’re for it:

• We believe that this ballot measure will make more homes available faster by increasing the amount of homes that can be built, marketed, and affordably sold. As builders, we’ll be able to do more projects and help sooner.
• This ballot measure meets an urgent need, but it’s not a short-term solution. This initiative provides ongoing, sustainable funding for affordable housing that will benefit Colorado for years to come.
• This funding would expand homeownership opportunities for vital members of Colorado’s workforce, including teachers, nurses, first responders, and technicians.
• 20% of the funding created by this proposition will go to affordable, for-sale home ownership. That’s exciting because we know that homeownership provides wealth-building opportunities, healthier kids, healthier families, and more stable communities.

The measure would not directly raise taxes; it will be funded by a tenth of a percent of taxes that the State already collects. The money collected for the fund would be exempt from the TABOR limit, meaning that Coloradans might see a reduction of about $40 in their TABOR refund check in the first year and $80 in the second year. We see this as a small price to pay to make a significant impact on our state’s affordable housing challenges.

The proposition allocates money for six different programs, to cover needs across the housing spectrum: land banking, creation and preservation of affordable rental housing, debt financing for affordable housing projects, affordable homeownership, homelessness relief, and increasing local planning capacity.

We believe this initiative is an effective solution to the challenges our communities face. As a home provider and builder in Colorado for more than 40 years, this initiative will enable us to provide more homes – sooner – to hardworking Coloradans.

Join us by learning more about Proposition 123 and by making sure you are registered to vote this November.
Learn more about Proposition 123 – Make Colorado Affordable
Read Proposition 123

Read how Habitat Metro Denver supports state and local initiatives to build and preserve affordable housing