Cherry Creek Perspective

MOBILITY

Reality Check: More EVs Can Mean Fewer Emissions

The reality is that in the United States today, EVs already deliver about 60–68 percent fewer emissions than gas- and diesel-powered vehicles. And when those EVs are charged smartly they can further reduce emissions by an additional 18 percent and even become a grid resource.

https://rmi.org/reality-check-more-evs-can-mean-fewer-emissions/

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Strip Malls Could Solve America’s Housing Crisis

For the last few years, however, the architect and urban designer Peter Calthorpe has been promoting a much more ambitious vision for stroads. He suggests not just transforming them into boulevards but replacing the strip malls and parking lots with multi-family residences. Looking at El Camino Real, a 43-mile-long commercial corridor stretching from San Francisco to San Jose, Calthorpe estimates that 250,000 housing units could be built within a half-mile of the roadway, in addition to an existing 55,000 single-family homes and 90,000 apartments and townhouses. That would nearly triple the housing density of the El Camino Real corridor, increasing it from 5.3 to 14.3 dwelling units per acre. That’s enough to make public transit viable. Importantly, by replacing decaying commercial properties, those new condo buildings and townhouses would have a negligible physical impact on existing homes, blunting the usual not-in-my-backyard resistance to development. (Of course, many existing homeowners might still complain about a perceived increase in traffic.)

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-03-09/strip-malls-could-solve-america-s-housing-crisis

Can Home Prices and Interest Rates Soar at the Same Time?

It has been 40 years since rates have risen like this alongside similar home price growth and high inflation. This time around, the United States also has a severe housing shortage. And then there’s a new and uncertain dynamic — the sudden rise of working from home, which has the potential to change what home buyers want and where they live.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/31/upshot/home-prices-mortgage-rates.html

Expanding Housing Affordability

In addition to existing affordable housing programs, the City and County of Denver is developing a policy to ensure that as new homes are built in Denver, more affordable homes are built too – both to rent and to buy. – On March 30, the city released the third iteration of the Expanding Housing Affordability proposal, which addresses community feedback received in the latest comment period.

https://www.denvergov.org/Government/Agencies-Departments-Offices/Agencies-Departments-Offices-Directory/Community-Planning-and-Development/Denver-Zoning-Code/Text-Amendments/Affordable-Housing-Project

As state lawmakers look to protect mobile home residents, Denverites face their own preservation issues

Trejo said that given Colorado and Denver’s need for more affordable housing, preserving what’s already affordable needs to be as important as creating new housing options. But preserving mobile home parks in Denver is a bit difficult considering they essentially aren’t allowed.

https://denverite.com/2022/03/21/as-state-lawmakers-look-to-protect-mobile-home-residents-denverites-face-their-own-preservation-issues/

Tax the land – one radical idea to solve America’s housing crisis.

Here’s the theory: Taxing land reduces the profit that comes from just owning a piece of property. Instead, you are incentivized to put that land to work. Let’s take a plot of land near Times Square. That land is so valuable, basically anything you do with it will turn a massive profit so no need to develop it for its most valuable use. However, if a land tax were to be levied, the owner of that land would need to make sure that the property on that land was actually profitable since the government is taxing away some or all of the land rents that could be charged.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22951092/land-tax-housing-crisis

Creating and Preserving Affordable Housing in Denver’s RiNo Art District

Between 2016 and 2018, the Denver city council created Denver’s first affordable housing overlay district, and during the planning process, the RiNo Art District organization advocated increased levels of affordability. Developers in this 160-acre zoning district surrounding the 38th/Blake rail station can construct projects up to 11 stories higher than the base zoning allows if they include housing units affordable to families earning incomes at or below 80 percent of the area median income (AMI). Residential developers can reserve a percentage of units for qualified residents either on the development site or at another location within the overlay district. Developers of commercial projects in the overlay district, who are already subject to a citywide affordable housing linkage fee, must pay an additional linkage fee, provide affordable housing offsite, or engage in a nonhousing-related community benefits agreement. Among the nonprofit organizations helping to bring more affordable housing to the RiNo Art District is the Urban Land Conservancy (ULC), which operates a community land trust. ULC leases its properties to affordable housing developers for a nominal rent that virtually eliminates the need for the developers to finance land costs.

https://www.huduser.gov/portal/casestudies/study-020922.html