A look at Denver’s “Unlocking Housing Choices” plan
freerange.city
A look at Denver’s “Unlocking Housing Choices” plan
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Re: A look at Denver’s “Unlocking Housing Choices” plan
#2Thankfully this article is about the zoning codes, not code as in computer programs.
Re: A look at Denver’s “Unlocking Housing Choices” plan
#3> A developer could likely fit 3-4 nice cottage homes on that lot, sell them for $500-700k, and make a profit
Denver takes 264 days to approve "multi-family or industrial projects with a valuation in excess of $1.5 million, such as a new apartment or office building, large additions" [1]. Construction loans in Colorado cost "8% to 13%" [2]. For a project with $1.5mm up-front costs, from land purchases to permit fees and legal costs, that comes to $87 to 141 thousand per project.
This isn't as bad as San Francisco, where permiting delays alone add hundreds of thousands of dollars to housing costs. But in addition to upzoning, it's something to be considered, particularly since Denver seems to categorise practically all impactful residential development as "major commercial."
[1] https://www.denvergov.org/Government/Agencies-Departments-Of...
[2] https://www.clearhouselending.com/commercial-loans/colorado/...
Re: A look at Denver’s “Unlocking Housing Choices” plan
#4The premise is that the author is a libertarian, except that housing in the neighborhood they live in should be fixed at the price that they can afford, and that the character of the neighborhood from the point that they moved into it should be preserved.
It's only real gentrification when upper-middle class YIMBYs get forced out.
Re: A look at Denver’s “Unlocking Housing Choices” plan
#5> Today, the neighborhood is mixed-income with a range of families from different backgrounds
This is a good thing!
Overall I think this is simply an outcome of NIMBYism, regulators over regulating to justify their existence, and a K shaped economy.
There's nothing wrong with the market building what there is actual money in. No one should be forced to lose money to serve those who cannot afford the product. (That's the space of charities)
Denver seems to have done an amazing job, relative to other places I've been, at actually adding a lot more housing. The market likely would be _worse_ had there not been so much built (and building)
Re: A look at Denver’s “Unlocking Housing Choices” plan
#6Plans like this would be interesting to me if I believed it were possible to get all the necessary parties to agree.
Re: A look at Denver’s “Unlocking Housing Choices” plan
#7Fixing housing is incredibly easy:
1. Remove Zoning / Deed Restrictions / Parking Minimums
2. Remove Red Tape (Environmental impact assessments, time cap approvals to a couple weeks, at cost fees)
3. Land Value Taxes
Watch as Gentrification suddenly goes away and infill development occurs. These complicated schemes are unnecessary.
Re: A look at Denver’s “Unlocking Housing Choices” plan
#8A rare anti-Betteridge's law of headlines article.
Yes, there are laws that, if passed, would stop or slow or even reverse the increasing price of real estate. Would they pass? Hard to say and probably not quickly.
As has been repeated many times: it's in the financial interest of people who own property to increase their property's value by constraining supply via zoning/building codes, and they usually have a good amount of influence in the local politics that determine these rules.
The solve is fairly straightforward: allow absolute maximum density so long as it is built safely.
You'll get tall apartment buildings pretty quick. Then everyone can go to the schools and enjoy the low crime and fast fire response.
But that isn't allowed because incumbents don't want it.
There's not much new about this... it's the same story all over the US.
Re: A look at Denver’s “Unlocking Housing Choices” plan
#9You cant just 4x every plot because that would destroy the ultilties that have been allocated.
Re: A look at Denver’s “Unlocking Housing Choices” plan
#10> A developer could likely fit 3-4 nice cottage homes on that lot, sell them for $500-700k, and make a profit Denver takes 264 days to approve "multi-family or industrial projects with a valuation in excess of $1.5 million, such as a new apartment or office building, large additions" [1]. Construction loans in Colorado cost "8% to 13%" [2]. For a project with $1.5mm up-front costs, from land purchases to permit fees…
>particularly since Denver seems to categorise practically all impactful residential development as "major commercial."
This isn't an accident. They know what they're doing.
Every municipality tries to do this to the extent they think they can get away with it because it's an end run around your property right. There's all sorts of residential exemptions and precedents and case law and courts and politicians tend not to be in a hurry to screw homeowners because there's tons of them.
By classifying you as commercial it gives them a) all sorts of capricious authority to micromanage the pettiest of details and/or force you to expend money with no recourse except "haha, sue us peasant".