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DENVER -- Growth in Colorado is making it difficult for a lot of people to buy a home.
Enter Denver's Urban Land Conservancy, a nonprofit real estate company creating affordable real estate directly benefiting the Denver region. The ULC is now bringing new life and new opportunities to an 18,000-square foot site near the trendy Santa Fe Arts District.
The condo complex, called Inca Commons, will offer 86 affordable for-sale condos available for under $200,000.
Travis Honahni and Annzlye Norris are certainly interested.
“It sounds amazing,” Travis said.
The couple might be a bit non-traditional.
"I got down on one knee," Annzlye said. "And then she asked me to marry her," said Travis.
But they're not unlike the majority of us, chasing the American Dream.
"A home,” Annzlye said. “Something we can call our own."
Their first home might someday be here at the corner of 6th and Santa Fe.
“The lack of affordable for-sale homes in the metro Denver region is a significant problem,” said Mark Marshall, director of real estate for ULC. “We need creative opportunities like Inca Commons.”
The program that Travis and Annzlye are enrolled in through the Denver Housing Authority does require some effort on their part -- including keeping up on rent for five consecutive years.
But, it's well-worth the sacrifice if you ask them.
"It stretches everything in your budget,” Annzlye said. “It definitely helps widen our budget. It helps you get financially stable, helps you build your credit."
And ultimately – it can lead to that dream home.
"Less stressed on the bills and everything and more focused on getting ourselves together and getting everything together for the future and to expand and make it possible for us to buy a house for our growing family,” Travis said. “That's one of our many goals - is to get the house."
The buildings that are currently standing at 6th Ave. and Inca will be scraped sometime after the New Year, according to ULC.
The income-restricted units will be protected for the next 198 years, meaning they must remain affordable forever.