Durango, CO: The state Department of Local Affairs has awarded the City of Durango $120,000 to promote innovative solutions for the development of affordable housing.
The money is available through HB21-1271, the Innovative Affordable Housing Planning Grant Program, which offers grants and other forms of state assistance to local governments. The money will be used to modernize and improve the city’s Fair Share Ordinance and administration of the program, which includes a housing feasibility study and other housing program policy work.
The city adopted the Fair Share Ordinance in 2009 as one of the many strategies to address affordable and workforce housing. The city seeks to streamline the program to clarify financial components of the program, and to assess the gap between market units and below-market affordable and workforce units. The city also wants to become compliant with state law HB21-1117 that now allows rental inclusionary zoning at the municipal level.
“Updating the city’s inclusionary zoning program is a top priority for City Council,” said Eva Henson, the city's housing innovation manager. “Key deliverables include an assessment and evaluation of the Fair Share Ordinance’s ability to produce housing opportunities and production of affordable and workforce housing units and making recommendations to increase the overall effectiveness of the program.”
The city has recently hired Root Policy Research, a women-owned consulting business based in Denver, Colorado, to prepare a high-quality and comprehensive review of Fair Share beginning on March 1.
The city and Root will conduct community engagement in various stages of the project to ensure the community as well as key stakeholders have an opportunity to participate. The project is anticipated to take approximately seven months.
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Media Contact
Eva Henson
Housing Innovation Manager
Phone: (970) 375-4857
Email: eva.henson@durangogov.org
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