DENVER — By the city's estimate, more than 100,000 people in Denver spend at least one-third of their income on housing. Finding affordable housing is an issue that impacts many throughout the city, but Denver's Department of Housing Stability is ready to help.
"This really brings to front and center that very real need for preserving the affordable housing units that we have, and but then investing more resources to get as many built as possible," said Derek Woodbury, who works with Denver's Department of Housing Stability.
For over a year now, the department has given Coloradans access to a portal, called Colorado Housing Search, which allows for the pointed search for an affordable home.
The portal allows Coloradans to pick the city they hope to rent or buy a home in, select whether they have a Section 8 voucher, and even choose how many bedrooms or bathrooms they want.
"There's income-restricted properties — so, these are properties that might have received government assistance at one time. But there's also properties that, you know, property owners are listing them there as well and they haven't received the subsidy in the past," Woodbury said.
The department also works with an array of housing counseling agencies and nonprofits that focus on finding Coloradans affordable homes.
Woodbury also stressed the importance of continuing to build more affordable housing throughout the city.
"We're not a builder of affordable units, but we partner with the community in order to do this," he said.
On Wednesday, Denver's newest affordable housing development opened.
The Central Park Urban Living Condos consist of 132 units of income-restricted housing in the popular Central Park neighborhood.
While the condos aren't cheap, they are less expensive than other condos around town, with prices ranging from $139,000 to $169,000.
The income restriction for this kind of housing is 60 to 80% of Denver's area median income. For a single person, that's $44,000 to $55,000 a year.
All of the condos are already under contract, with 100 people on that specific waitlist.
"The need is real, the need is great. We're all seeing it throughout the city. We've seen that for some time," Woodbury said.
He said he suggests anyone looking for affordable housing to seek out the resources offered by Denver's Department of Housing Stability.