Mass Transit, February 25, 2021, Denver RTD Board approves policy to encourage development of affordable housing on RTD property
The Denver Regional Transportation District (RTD) Board of Directors approved the new equitable transit-oriented development (TOD) policy to help encourage development of affordable housing on district-owned properties adjacent to transit stations across the Denver metro region.
RTD says the shortage of affordable housing in Denver is at crisis levels. Last summer, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) released a report that ranked Denver second on the list of “Most Intensely Gentrifying Cities 2013–2017,” just behind San Francisco and Oakland and before Boston. The city of Denver’s own figures show that the median income increased about eight percent between 2015 and 2018, while rent increased 13 percent and the cost of homes jumped by 17 percent. An estimated 96,000 households in Denver are spending more than one-third of total income on rent or mortgage.
