ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — A community task force has been taking a close look at the need for affordable housing in Englewood. They have compiled a full report on where the need stands and possible solutions.
Englewood resident Amber Reyes is one of the task force members. She has been a renter for the last 10 years.
"I have a great job, my husband has a great job, but we still can't buy a house," she said. "We were actually 12 days from being homeless before we found our current rental."
She said she knows she is far from the only one who struggled to find an affordable home to raise her family in.
Over the last year, the task force learned that 27% of Englewood renters are using more than 30% of their monthly income on housing. Another 23% of renters have to spend more than half of their monthly income.
"One shocking thing that we discovered in our process was that the City of Englewood, currently, is short by 2,500 units," Reyes said.
There has been progress, with several affordable housing developments open across the city:
- Canterbury Apartments at 3550 S. Delaware St.
- The Foundry at 501 E. Bates Ave.
- Broadway Lofts at 3401 S. Broadway
- Presidential Arms Apartments at 3595 S. Washington St.
- Traditions at Englewood at 3500 S. Sherman St.
- Terraces on Penn at 3590 S. Pennsylvania St.
- Trails at Lehow at 300 W. Lehow Ave.
Trails at Lehow is one of the newer developments, hitting 100% occupancy recently.
"It serves residents at income levels between 30% of the area median income all the way up to 60% of the area median income," said Nick Emenhiser, director of Development for the Cohen-Esrey Development Group behind Trials at Lehow. "At that point, that's your teachers, that's your nurses, that's police, fire — those are a lot of, you know, public servants."
Around 61% of the total 82 units at Trails at Lehow are two- or three-bedroom apartments. That was an intentional choice by developers.
"We know that on the affordable side of things, that it's really these family households who really need affordable housing more than anybody else," Emenhiser said.
Task force members recommended to council to consider more variety of affordable home types, in addition to apartments, that would accommodate families best.
"In order to fight this, we really have to push back and kind of think outside of the box and be willing to think about more than just ourselves, because lack of access to housing affects our schools, it affects our businesses. If we want to have a strong community, we need to have a strong housing network," Reyes said.
The City of Englewood has now launched a new community education initiative called Home is the Key, which aims to raise awareness about the need for affordable housing, what projects look like, who could live there and other aspects of the affordable housing equation so that the community is well-informed as officials continue to consider solutions to the affordable housing shortage.
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