Affordable Housing Action Team

Affordable housing (rental and home ownership) is in short supply in Arvada and Jefferson County. The Affordable Housing Team advocates to increase the supply of affordable housing to reduce homelessness.

Housing (shelter) is a basic human need, and costs have increased dramatically in the last few years. This has become a crisis for both renters and those seeking to own a home. Affordable housing is needed for all members of our community (seniors, our essential workforce including working families, and those with disabilities). Many of our children who grew up here cannot afford to live in Arvada or Jeffco.

The income gap between the wealthiest Americans and the rest of us has been increasing over the years, and APA is advocating for more equity. Affordable housing is a key issue in preventing homelessness in our communities.

Our goal: Increase the availability of Affordable Housing in Arvada and Jefferson County

With ongoing advocacy from APA, on Affordable Housing we convinced the City to:

Co-sponsor a Housing Resource Fair in 2018 to educate low-middle income Arvada residents about existing programs to help them with housing needs
Form a citizen’s Housing Advisory Committee (with an APA member on it), hire an Affordable Housing specialist, and adopt a city Housing Strategy
Helped to permit/create almost 700 units of Affordable (income-restricted) housing in Arvada since 2023
Meets with the City of Arvada (mostly through the Arvada Housing Advisory Committee) and Jefferson County (through the Jeffco Housing Continuum Task Force) to discuss options for increasing affordable housing.

On Homelessness APA members have pushed the city to:

create a draft Homelessness Action Strategy (on hold)
try to create a Navigation Center with 24/7 Shelter (on hold)
hire 2 new Homeless Navigators
Establish (using a grant from Colorado) 30-35 motel rooms for bridge (transitional) housing for clients working with the homeless navigators to get into permanent housing

More information about housing needs in Jefferson County (and personal stories) can be found at Bell Policy Center Housing