... So says the latest media headlines from the Denver Post. Of course developers are against the ambitious affordable housing proposal, because developers are not about affordable housing at all. They're all about MAKING MONEY. And, not as much money can be made if they are required to build affordable housing. “Every policy and every housing agreement I have ever done I have been told will kill development,” Kniech said this week. “I still stand here today and look out my window and see the cranes. Ultimately, the market is the evidence.”
Denver developers, contrary to what they say, are NOT about building affordable housing. They are about making money. They want to be able to buy properties and build high-priced housing without any obligation to build anything affordable. They constantly argue that they WANT to build affordable housing, but it's TOO expensive. Yeah, they're right about that, if they want to keep raping our city to make millions, building affordable housing in the process eats into their profits, so of course they're against any regulation.
Don't pity the developers, they'll be just fine. If the overbuilding of high priced housing in Denver slows down due to a requirement of affordable housing, that's a GOOD thing!
Developers in Denver want to be able to purchase as much property as they can to rake in the profits through building unaffordable, overpriced cheaply-built housing. It's not about helping lower-income people, it's about helping themselves.
Currently, Denver is in top cities of building the most housing, but guess what? It's not affordable housing, it's overpriced "luxury" housing that only the most wealthy can afford to rent. It's time to require that developers don't just add more overpriced housing to our city! If they don't make as much money, and so it slows down development, so be it. We're thinking about the long-term quality of life in Denver, not short-term profits. If we only build more overpriced "luxury" housing, it is a strain on our infrastructure and is hard on everyone.
Above: Another smaller, more affordable home is destroyed for profit in South Park Hill. This is the third small home on this block to fall to the hands of developers. It was a perfect home for a small family or couple, but will most likely be replaced with a huge unaffordable home. Many of the great features of this home including a nice steel two-car carport were demolished and thrown into the landfill.
Denver Construction Defects are Common in Denver:
Another issue is that many of the buildings being constructed are destined for problems and they will not likely last for even 100 years. They are built as cheaply and as quickly as possible for maximum profits. Leaky windows, roofs and settling foundations are just a few of the major issues people have to deal with in many new developments in Colorado. Developers quickly build and then sell or rent out the poorly built homes at extremely high prices – leaving the new house-poor owners and renters to deal with the poor construction defects. What's worse, is that developers are constantly trying to push for less regulation against construction defects so they are not held responsible for issues with their buildings. It's criminal.
Denver developers are a menace upon our city, destroying small quality historic homes to build fourplexes, duplexes and giant mansions covering as much as the permeable ground as allowed, and casting on shadows upon our neighbors landscapes and homes. In the process, their heavy machinery spews dust and pollution into our already toxic air, and fill our landfills with quality materials from the destroyed homes.
It's not only OK to slow the building down, we need to slow down the building in Denver in a big way! We've been in the top 10 for the most apartments being built in the country, yet the housing costs have only continued to skyrocket to be affordable only to the elite. We need to slow down this gold rush and grow sustainably, slowly, and affordably, otherwise, we're just creating a huge overpriced mess.
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