§ 27-151 — Legislative findings and intent

Sec. 27-151. - Legislative findings and intent.

The city council has determined that Denver is experiencing an unprecedented escalation in housing costs, and thus a critical lack of housing opportunities for households with low or moderate incomes. In recent years, Denver has ranked at or near the top of national reports of U.S. cities in terms of inflation in housing costs. The declining availability of low and moderately priced housing in Denver forces persons employed in the city to either spend a disproportionate percentage of their disposable income on housing, thus sacrificing other necessities of life, or forces them to seek housing opportunities outside the city. Households living outside of the city spend additional time and resources commuting, which leads to stress, increased child-care requirements, and increased air pollution. The extraordinary housing cost increases in Denver are driven, in part, by the pace of population and job growth in the city, resulting in a situation where demand for housing has far outpaced supply, especially for persons who may find jobs in Denver's growing economy but are employed at low or moderate income levels. The city council has determined that it is in the public interest to address the severe social and economic impacts to the city and its citizens caused by the increasing gap between supply and demand for housing for funding programs designed to preserve and increase the supply of affordable housing available to low and moderate income households. The city council specifically finds that it is appropriate to fund a portion of the costs of such programs from a linkage fee on new development for the following reasons: (a) New residential and non-residential development is demonstrably associated with the generation of new jobs at various income levels, with the number of jobs associated with any particular development being correlated with the type and size of the development. (b) When jobs at a low or moderate income level are generated as a direct consequence of new non-residential development, employees receiving such incomes will experience a lack of housing availability and affordability in Denver under current market conditions unless efforts are taken by the city to increase housing opportunities to keep pace with job growth. (c) The city council also specifically finds that job growth associated with new residential development is directly related to the income and spending capacity of the household occupying the residence and that the size of the residence, as measured in gross floor area, correlates with the income and spending capacity of the residents, thus causing a larger residence to drive more job growth and more concomitant secondary housing demand than a smaller residence. (d) For the foregoing reasons, the city council has determined there is a direct nexus between both non-residential and residential development, job growth, and demand for new housing that is affordable to households with low or moderate incomes. (e) The city council acknowledges that monetary exactions on new development cannot exceed an amount that is justified by the impacts caused by the development. The city council has determined that the fees set forth herein fall far below the amount of revenue that would actually be necessary to meet the demand for new affordable housing driven by the job growth that is associated with new development, and thus these fees do not exceed the applicable standards that define the maximum legally justifiable fee. (f) The city council further acknowledges that the revenue derived from the fees provided herein must be used, not to address the existing gap between supply and demand for affordable housing in the city, but instead to mitigate future increases in the gap caused by new construction which will lead to new employment opportunities in the city, and the increased demand for affordable housing associated with such employment. (g) The city council has determined to set the affordable housing linkage fees set forth herein at a level much lower than those imposed by other cities, in an effort to ensure that the fees do not impair the feasibility of any development project in the city. (h) The foregoing findings are supported by the "Denver Affordable Housing Nexus Study" prepared for the City and County of Denver by David Paul Rosen & Associates and dated September 8, 2016, the contents of which are expressly incorporated herein as a part of the legislative findings of the city council. (i) The linkage fees set forth in division 2 of this article are supported by the "Expanding Housing Affordability: Feasibility Analysis" prepared for the City and County of Denver by Root Policy Research and dated September 28, 2021, the contents of which are expressly incorporated herein as a part of the legislative findings of the city council. (j) The city council has further determined that, since Denver does not impose nearly the range or amount of development impact fees as are imposed by virtually every other municipality throughout the Denver metropolitan area, the fees set forth herein will not place the city at a competitive disadvantage in relation to neighboring jurisdictions in terms of accommodating future population growth and economic development.

(Ord. No. 625-16, § 1, 9-19-16; Ord. No. 47-20, § 34, 3-16-20; Ord. No. 426-22, § 1, 6-6-22)