AFFORDABLE GREEN

Colorado Cities and Low-Income Housing

By Headwaters News, 5-08-07

In Colorado, affordable housing has a noticeably green hue, as both a metaphor for environmentally friendly building and as an issue completely about money, or lack-thereof.

In Denver, reports the Denver Post, a committee within the Denver Housing Task Force wants all developers working on city-funded affordable housing projects to build “green.” The committee is now reviewing several sets of standards to determine which will fit the city best, though some say the city should wait for national green-building standards to venture down that path.

But several other cities in the region are already incorporating so-called “green” methods into developing affordable housing, and there are even developers already doing that work in the city itself.

In Aspen, the problem of affordable housing is so acute that officials can’t afford to debate the merits of building philosophies. Workers are being priced so far away from town, employers are having trouble filling positions, and so have taken on affordable housing as a crucial business move.

The Aspen Ski Co. has signed a contract to buy a 64-unit apartment complex, reports the Aspen Times, to house its employees. But doing so will displace the 100 or so already living there. The move, many say, solves affordable housing issues for the ski resort, but doesn’t do much overall, as those 100 people will then be forced to look for another affordable option.

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