FREE
Week of February 2, 2023
JEFFERSON COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 10 | CALENDAR: PAGE 9 | SPORTS: PAGE 16
VOLUME 18 | ISSUE 33
Our in-depth look at the housing crisis
Arvada city team resolves to manage local homeless service providers BY RYLEE DUNN RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
High home prices, lack of supply sever metro residents from communities Low- and middle-income people struggle to live where they work BY ROBERT TANN COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
When Chris Laney moved into his new three-bedroom home last summer, he felt like he’d won the lottery. After more than a decade of chasing the cheapest rent across the metro area, the Littleton bartender finally has a house to call his own. “I almost feel guilty that I have it,” said Laney, 49. Laney is one of a handful of residents who have secured housing through a subsidized program aimed at helping lower- and middle-income people live where they work. But as cities and towns contend with historically high
home costs and a lack of supply, residents like Laney have struggled to live in their communities. “I’ve always felt like I was just passing through instead of living somewhere, putting down roots,” said Laney. He has worked at Jake’s Brew Bar in Littleton since 2012. “This is where I want to be,” Laney said. “My friends and family are Jake’s.” In numerous counties, residents — spanning a range of employment from the service industry to teaching — have faced the brunt of what many officials are calling a housing crisis. The median price of a singlefamily home in the metro area has roughly tripled since 2010, according to an August 2022 report by the Colorado Association of Realtors. Back in 2010, the median price was about $200,000. And wages have not kept up with home costs. Between 2000 and 2019, median rents rose at a faster
rate than household incomes “in every Colorado county and city with 50,000+ residents,” according to a November 2021 report from Denver-based consulting firm Root Policy Research. The report also said that, as of June 2021, Colorado’s overall housing inventory was 13% of what is needed for a functioning sales market. “Quite honestly, we just don’t have enough housing, whether it’s affordable or otherwise,” said Kelly Milliman, city council member for Littleton’s District 4 and a member of the city’s housing task force. “It’s really vitally important to the overall health of our community going forward.” The sentiment is similar for leaders in the neighboring cities of Englewood and Sheridan. There, officials said affordable home options used to be more common. “For the people that can afford it, SEE PRICES, P12
Arvada’s City Council rang in the new year by addressing one of the most pressing concerns for the community: homelessness. At a Jan. 9 study session, Arvada’s city team resolved to take a more supervisory role in terms of homeless service coordination, but one of the city’s key would-be partners — Mission Arvada, a homeless service ministry that operates out of The Rising Church in Olde Town — says the city hasn’t always been a willing collaborator. The discussion was spurred in part because of an incident that occurred on Christmas Day at School House Kitchen and Libations; one of the many Olde Town establishments owned by Scott Spears. In an email to city council, city team members and other community stakeholders, Spears reported that a homeless man broke into Schoolhouse and vandalized the restaurant and its alcohol stock. Spears said a bar manager at Schoolhouse found the man on Christmas morning, at which point Arvada Police responded. The man was eventually placed in jail, according to Spears, and Spears himself had to leave his family to take care of the situation. “I’m sick of this,” Spears said in the email. “Do something. Shut down the church that is bringing all of these people down here. We all know that is the main problem. If any other business was causing these types of problems, they would be shut down immediately. “Not only has my family and I invested millions of dollars into Olde Town, but I have given my heart and soul to our wonderful town,” Spears continued. “And now it is being destroyed. Get this homeless situation under control. You are our leaders and you are letting us down. Do something. Now.” SEE PROVIDERS, P2