Views on Affordable Housing of Candidates for Louisville City Council, 2021
FACTS ABOUT HOUSING IN BOULDER COUNTY
About one quarter of renters in Boulder County spend at least half of their income on rent.
In some Boulder County departments, surveys show 70% of employees commute from outside the county.
Commuting into the county for work is most common among lower-income workers.
The last 10 years of available data show Boulder County has gained 3.5 jobs for every 1 unit of housing.
To ascertain the candidates’ positions, ECHO provided each the opportunity to respond to our questionnaire on Affordable Housing issues. Our questions assumed some knowledge of Affordable Housing policy. Some candidates may not yet have a grasp of how challenging Affordable Housing is for many community residents. However, we hoped that each candidate would answer at least some of the questions to give the public an idea of their values around housing.
ECHO is presenting candidates’ responses in their own words, without editing, or commentary. If you don’t see a candidate’s response here it is because we didn’t receive one.
As a tax-exempt, non-profit organization ECHO does not endorse candidates, but we can help you learn how aware the candidates are and where they stand on Affordable Housing.
Candidate Responses to ECHO’s Affordable Housing Questionnaire: Read the Full Report
September 2021
Review excerpts of Louisville candidates’ responses below.
CANDIDATES FOR LOUISVILLE CITY COUNCIL
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Keith Keller
Allowing current homeowners to build dwelling units over their garage or in their back yard it would increase the number of units available for low-income renters, without adding to urban sprawl , often would be at a lower price point than a unit would cost in a large apartment complex. In addition, Louisville has a long history of residents building and renting accessory units on their property during the early years of Louisville when the coal mining industry was driving the economy, so this is not a new concept for the city.
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Kyle Brown
I have been proud to support efforts to make affordable housing more available in Louisville. I led efforts to introduce the inclusionary zoning ordinance that passed council this summer. Our new ordinance sets a requirement that new developments have 12% affordable housing. I would like to see this ordinance improved in the future to require a larger percentage of affordable housing. I would also like our policies to include requirements that a certain percentage of affordable housing be affordable for people who make less than 60% of area median income. Louisville should use proceeds from payments developers make to the city in lieu of affordable housing to make additional affordable housing available in our community..
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Chris Leh
I believe it's fair and achievable. The lack of affordable housing is a regional challenge, and Boulder County communities agreed to tackle it together. It is up to each of them to reach the 12% goal in its own way based on community values, geography, and land use policies. I was Louisville's representative to the Boulder County Consortium of Cities, whose members studied affordable housing, supported the development of the 12% affordable housing goal, and then championed it to convince their respective municipalities to support it. I am proud to say that all seven Louisville City Councilmembers were at the affordable housing summit at which the goal was presented. I am equally proud of my colleagues that, shortly afterward, the Council unanimously adopted that goal.