Railroad tracks run along the edge of the Old Town Arvada development. (Katie Wood/Denver Post file)
Union Station has been a transportation hub since 1881, thriving for 70 years with intercity travelers switching from heavy railroads to streetcars and returning home.
Subsequently, land use patterns and transportation habits changed. Housing sprung up in suburban communities connected by interstate highways, and automobiles came to dominate roads and households.
Union Station limped along for the next 50 years. New housing (including affordable buildings required by the city) was built across the mostly impassable railroad tracks in the Central Platte Valley, but there were no immediate neighbors. The station served Amtrak, the RTD C Line, and a few buses, but few passengers.
That is until four government agencies implemented a vision for a lower downtown community centered around Union Station as a rail and bus hub, supported by thousands of new homes to increase ridership. That was it. The new density of this transit-oriented community has supported grocery stores, farmers markets, restaurants, and a thriving neighborhood in Lodo.
I went from advocate to Union Station board member to City Council member, and ended up helping make sure some of the new housing was priced for the bus drivers and baristas who worked there. became.
While it’s easy to see the “housing and transportation” connection at the luxurious Union Station, cities across the state have or are trying to recreate much smaller three- to five-story models. Think about transit-centric communities like Fort Collins’ Mason Corridor, mature Boulder Junction, and Arvada Town Center, and imagine the potential of Superior’s McCaslin Park and Ride.
Gov. Jared Polis and state legislators have announced that 31 transit-heavy cities, including the Denver metropolitan area plus Colorado Springs and Fort Collins, will be rezoned to support more housing along transit hubs. We would like to speed up the process by enacting legislation to ensure implementation.
House Bill 1313, a transit-oriented communities (TOC) bill that would create moderate density around transit, is being debated on Capitol Hill. This is part of a package to alleviate the housing crisis through zoning reform by fostering new supply and improving housing affordability for Coloradans.
This approach will also help in the long term if a companion bill is passed that allocates $30 million in new tax credits for the construction of housing priced for households below 60%, 50%, or even 30% of median income. It has the potential to guarantee affordable housing. This equates to her income being less than $60,000 (depending on household size and location).
More broadly, simply adding more market-rate apartment buildings near transit can help save residents money and expand access to more affordable apartments. But by using HB 1313 to require builders to include some level of on-site affordability during construction, we will reach even more Coloradans who need below-market rents faster. It may be possible.
Economic evidence supports both increasing density and building affordable housing near transit. Increasing ridership requires a minimum density, which increases fares and strengthens transit, helping to stabilize or improve service to all riders.
Low- and moderate-income households with incomes below $55,000 spend more than 60% of their income on housing and transportation combined. They are most likely to avoid using a car for transportation, so living in a walkable, transit-rich area can save him 9% on transportation costs. This combination will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow the climate change that has brought killer heat, wildfires, and melting snow to Colorado.
The question of how market-rate (a.k.a., likely expensive) housing in transit-oriented communities can help alleviate the crisis is more complex, but there are also reasons for optimism.
According to my research as a researcher at the Bell Policy Institute, in counties covered by the TOC bill, accessory dwelling units such as condos and duplexes sell for an average of $204,000 less than single-family homes. Condominiums will definitely be allowed under the required density. Local governments may even out zoning for very tall buildings to create less dense zoning. That said, depending on the scenario, townhome configurations may also help meet minimum density.
TOC methods have the potential to expand homeownership at a lower cost than new single-family construction.
And if nonprofits and cities can secure parcels to implement land trust models within these transit-oriented communities, it could help expand homeownership among more moderate-income households. A land trust holds the land underlying the building in unassessed “community” ownership, and units built or existing on that land are often price and income limited.
Extensive research has been conducted into the impact of new apartments on surrounding rents and affordability. The old method associated new competition with lower rents only for older homes in the area that were decades old or older.
New evidence shows a slight drop in prices in the immediate vicinity of new buildings (less than 0.2 miles), from -$100 to -$159.
Even more encouraging results show that when low-cost apartments quickly become vacant, which triggers a flurry of moves, more low-income renters take advantage of the vacancies. ing. This phenomenon is often compared to a game of musical chairs. In places where there is a general shortage, some workers are “renting” homes for less than they can actually afford, so “chairs” are provided for low-income workers. If a worker who can afford to rent a new apartment “stands up” and moves, he will vacate a “chair” in the price and income range.
In Colorado’s popular destinations, local protections against converting new housing into short-term rentals would make it more likely that these results would be replicated.
But by 2040, working households making less than 60% of the median income will receive 60% of new housing, or 137,000 units, according to a preliminary housing needs assessment by the Denver Regional Council of Governments. It is said that it will be necessary. Rent will still be unaffordable for them. Building mixed-income affordable housing as a percentage of market housing built on day one could expand the number of apartments eased by move-in.
States and cities in California and Massachusetts are leading similar zoning changes, and both have state or local policies that combine density and affordability requirements, typically for 10% of new construction units. % or more must be below market price. So should the state of Colorado and local governments. (Part 4 of this series will delve deeper into this so-called inclusive housing model.)
And we must reduce the risks of displacement that may still accompany new housing developments in vulnerable communities. Public or community land ownership is a key strategy for this, as well as bringing home ownership to more renters.
Inside the Colorado State Capitol, the debate over House Bill 1313 is dominated by insider baseball, chicken-and-egg questions. Should we reform zoning first, or should we improve transit frequency? What should the bill’s formula be to determine density in these communities? And then create penalties that tie transportation funding to compliance? Should it be included in the bill (so far, the bill does not include fines)? What most Coloradans probably care more about is whether the housing fits the character of their community and whether it will help with the crisis. Recent polls show that statewide support for increasing density near transit centers ranges from one-half to two-thirds.
General “density” did not scare the poll respondents, but it does scare some opponents. When residents are presented with real-world transit-centric scenarios during hands-on planning exercises, they become more accepting of the walkable communities they create.
Like when we showed 1,300 Fort Collins residents a community with denser-than-average housing near transit. In cities that have struggled to pass zoning reforms at the policy level, the majority of residents, when considered, preferred scenarios that had the highest concentration of infill development with high-frequency transit service. More media coverage of what an equivalent 3-4 story model looks and feels like when reporting debates would help fill an important gap.
Ultimately, upzoned transit-oriented communities with housing funding can align with both the affordability and quality of life interests of a wide range of Coloradans.
Implementing aggressive protections against evictions in vulnerable communities, along with the newly signed protections against no-cause evictions, as required by the bill, will help reduce risk.
The TOC bill passed $30 million in affordable housing tax credits, allowing some new units to be prepaid, as seven of the 31 cities covered by the bill already do. Requiring affordability would further expand outcomes for those in need. Coloradans.
Robin Kunik served on the Denver City Council from 2011 to 2023 and sponsored the Denver Affordable Housing Fund, the Homelessness Solutions Fund, and many other affordable housing and zoning measures. She is an Economic Mobility Fellow at the Bell Policy Center. Read @robinkniech’s full report on her Substack or Medium.
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