Lakewood, Colorado may decide to lessen deportation fears for migrants as part of its affordable housing strategy. The single sentence from the study suggests “proactively addressing fears in the community about public charge and deportation.” Presentation explained that this means lessening deportation fears, so that people in a difficult housing situation did not feel compelled to leave any stability they may have found. However, immigration status is polarizing the nation, and in the context of the other housing assistance options, this discussion may require extra time or this single sentence may be interpreted as new policy. No questions or comments regarding this particular item were brought forth by Lakewood City Council so no details are available.
Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado
Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado
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Correction, Jan 18, 2024: The unnamed, closed Jefferson County school was not proposed as a homeless shelter but as a new location for the Jeffco Action Center which offers hardship services. Increased housing for the homeless would then be available and Lakewood would have a presence in two Action Center buildings. Plans are not final, but discussions have been started. More details have not been brought before Council yet. Correction: Services, Not Shelter, to Move to Jeffco School Lakewood’s Strategic Housing Plan (SHP) researched the possibilities of redeveloping vacant or underutilized land for affordable housing. For example, there are many vacant commercial sites that could be used for new affordable units. The SHP currently does not have details, rather the plan is ready for further research and public discussion. However, Lakewood City Manager Hodgson says that by listening carefully to City Councilors, city staff could anticipate that this item was of particular interest so staff has started work. Towards that goal, Lakewood staff already has a proposal to work collaboratively to house homeless in a closed Jeffco school in Lakewood. That project includes working with the Jeffco Action Center to provide shelter in these already controversial neighborhood sites. Financial incentives may be available from the city. This proposal will be coming to Council for approval soon, with no other details provided by Hodgson, as announced in the December 18 study session. Public comment shows people want further discussion regarding sheltering the unhoused in a school, but city staff believe they have...
Newly elected Lakewood City Council Member Isabel Cruz says increasing housing supply has led to higher rents and gentrification of her area, Ward 2. However, Lakewood’s Strategic Housing Plan (SHP) says the opposite will happen in the future, that increasing overall supply will decrease rents, especially in areas of high homeless population such as Ward 2. The plan depends on the theory that more market-rate housing will create affordable housing in an indirect way that has not been proven in Lakewood. This discrepancy between theory and observable experience was not resolved before Lakewood City Council agreed to move forward with the plan as proposed on December 18, 2023. Following SHP recommendations will: This plan to recommend more development was created by a group largely comprised of developers, along with city staff. Only one “active resident” is listed (Hattip Hasfjord – see SHP pg 3) Many of the details needed to understand how the plan will impact Lakewood are missing from the plan. Council Member Mayott-Guerrero explained in the very beginning that passing the plan is just the first step for being able to really dig into the details and research this plan. City Manager Hodgson apparently disagrees. She says that staff has been listening to what Council wants and has been acting on those desires by developing project specific proposals. The detailed project proposals were developed without public input or vote by Council on what their priorities will be. The proposals will be ready for Council approval as soon as...
One recommendation from Lakewood’s Strategic Housing Plan (SHP) is to incentivize development with city funds. A variety of costs and methods are discussed. Specific spending decisions have not been made but City Manager Hodgson says staff is ready with a proposal to work with the Community First Foundation in a donor-advised fund. Funds could be ready as early as first quarter 2024. Hodgson suggested a starting amount of $500,000. In most cases, direct funding would not be economical so available funds could be used to leverage other funds. For example, city funds could match against other government grants for development. There are significant other costs proposed: The other favored source of proposed funding would be from an increase to the Accommodation Tax (currently 3%). This hidden tax increase would have far-reaching effects: The reason for the accommodation tax in the first place was to fuel economic development but that purpose has been modified for public safety by Lakewood City Council. The city has previously made funds available through the Community Block Grant Fund to pay for infrastructure costs for development. One benefit of having a new fund with the Community First Foundation would be that funds would be immediately available on the developers’ schedule, rather than waiting until grant approval time. The indirect costs of increased residential services and decreased business opportunities cannot be directly calculated so are not considered.
Guest post from Alex Plotkin A recent article by RMPBS calls out the effects of the failed policies of the Colorado local and state politicians, but it incorrectly singles out the cause of the issue. It’s not just the affordable housing, but a whole slew of factors which have set up some of the Colorado communities for the failures that are starting to manifest. As is often the case, the local and state politicians are behind the curve on seeing the true cause of the problem, which they, in part might have created due to their short-sighted (and, in some cases, dubious) policies. Instead of creating zoning and building standards which would have dictated the build out of diverse communities where localized, well-paying employment opportunities would be collocated with a variety of housing and educational opportunities, public transit and amenities which would attract a variety of skilled professionals at various stages of life, a number of communities in Colorado will be passed over on the way to locales which are proactively working on setting up their communities for the challenges that are rapidly coming our way. In Lakewood, specifically, the government has chosen to foster the build out of metro districts and rentals, focusing on the means of extracting profit from those who live there, instead of creating well-paying, localized employment opportunities for the high-skill professionals, who, instead have moved on to other areas for employment, resulting in large parts of Lakewood being economically stagnant. This, in turn is already resulting...
Guest post from Joan from Lakewood So the progressive Leadership of Lakewood maintained its position after the November 7 election. Congratulations Mayor Strom. But there is a crack in the smooth surface in Lakewood. An unknown politically naive man with no name recognition or political history came in second with 30 percent of the vote. This was dismissed by the winning party as an awful MAGA uprise and not to be considered. But I contend it is the symptom of the growing anger of the citizens of Lakewood over policies that have ignored public input (see the Save Belmar Park people) But consider this, Arvada has recently rejected the monies from the county to open a negotiation center in the city. And is not developing policies and programs that will attract the unhoused into their community. Meanwhile Lakewood takes 7 million of Jefferson County funds (funds from the Federal Infrastructure Act) to open a recovery/navigation center And makes itself more welcoming to unhoused individuals by opening and celebrating new programs. Editor’s note: It is unconfirmed if County/Federal money will be filtered through Lakewood or go directly to RecoveryWorks. On November 29, there was a church/community meeting to roll out a “Safe to Park” program in the parking lot of Phillips United Methodist church at 1450 S Pierce St, This program will allow people living in their cars to have permission to park in 4 spaces on the church parking lot. This program is designed to work with the services of Lakewood and there is...
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