Day 1/15 - Denver, CO

This article is part of a series where we release all City council + planning dep. decisions for the top 15 cities tracked nationwide. You can find all decisions for Denver, CO here. Interested in what other cities we will be releasing in the next 14 days? See the footer of the email.

Welcome to Day 1 out of 15, where we release the 15 most tracked cities nationwide. For Day 1, we start with all City council and planning department decisions for Denver, CO over the last year. You can find past decisions and subscribe to all future decisions here.

From July 2024 to July 2025, Denver has rezoned 330.83 acres, which include at least 43 parcels, projected to deliver ~1,489 housing units. The total documented financial commitment from public and private sources for the projects and contracts analyzed amount to $758,954,589.80, approximately 49% of which ($369,493,514.68) was directed specifically toward projects and services categorized as “Affordable Housing”.

Methodology

ReZone tracks all CRE-related City Council and Planning Department decisions. We meticulously categorize them (see data dictionary) and record decision details such as Size_Dollars, Size_Units, Size_Acres, Asset_Class, Property_Type, Long/Lat, Owner, Developer, etc.

It’s important to state that we only focus on City council & planning department data. For example, if a developer were to build 1M+ SFR homes by-right (and thus wouldn’t have to appear in front of the City council), then we wouldn’t track that.

However, we believe that zoning, which is mostly controlled by the City council & planning department, has an incredibly large impact on local real estate markets and want to highlight some key decisions and accentuate some major trends/directionality.

Background

Denver is in a deep housing affordability crisis. According to the Common Sense Institute Colorado, the number of homeless individuals in the City of Denver has risen 86% since 2019 and 12% since 2024. They also estimate that the City of Denver is short between 13,148 - 30,930 units.

Looking broader doesn’t make the picture any rosier. Colorado is said to be the state with the 5th-highest home prices and 3rd-highest rents. The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) estimates that Colorado is short more than 180,000 affordable housing units.

A recent analysis by the National Zoning Atlas shows that only 3% of residentially zoned land allows four-or-more-family housing as of right. It also shows that 86% of land allowing SF housing has a two-acre minimum lot size mandate.

Findings

One of the most quoted documents when it comes to CRE-related decisions is the Blueprint Denver - a Citywide land use and transportation plan updated in 2019. This plan is commonly used to guide rezonings with the goal to increase density, improve mobility, and enhance community character.

The most active Department is HOST - the Department of Housing Stability. It acts as the operational and financial engine driving the City’s housing agenda. Formed to consolidate Denver’s housing and homelessness services.

Another important program is the Elevate Denver Bond Program. The program is a $937 million voter-approved general obligation bond initiative, providing critical capital to the City’s public infrastructure improvements.

Rezonings

Over the past 12 months, the City of Denver has rezoned ~330.83 acres. This includes a 154.12 acre park rezoning, a 31.46 acre mixed-use project, and a 17.76 acre rezoning to protect manufactured home communities.

Most rezonings can be put into 3 categories. The “Gentle Infill”, “Missing Middle”, and “Affordable Housing”.

Gentle Infill (ADUs)

The most impactful decision in the last 12 months is Denver’s Citywide legalization of ADUs. By permitting ADUs “by-right” across the City, the City council has potentially unlocked thousands of new, naturally affordable housing units.

Before the introduction of this legislation in November 2024, we’ve tracked a multitude of smaller projects that received approval to include ADUs on their lots.

Missing Middle

Denver’s City Council consistently allowed upzonings on (often) vacant or underutilized parcels. Examples include individual parcels being rezoned from single-family to two-unit residential districts or a single-unit to mixed-use district to facilitate a five-unit for-sale townhome project.

Affordable Housing

In November 2024, the City council approved a text amendment to create a permanent Manufactured Housing Community (MHC) zone district. To quote the City, the goal is “to project mobile home parks as conforming land uses, addressing affordability and redevelopment pressures”. This is a direct acknowledgement that these communities, which represent one of the last bastions of unsubsidized affordable housing, are under threat from market forces that incentivize their redevelopment into more profitable uses.

Another project that caught our attention was the 0.78 acres rezoning to allow for a “Tiny House Community”. The project will feature 18 single-story tiny homes, each around 330 square feet, along with a community building and shared green space. To make the project viable, the City approved adjustments to development standards, including reduced setbacks and parking requirements.

The parcel was rezoned from a R-5 (Multi-Family High) to R-Flex High. A conditional use and development plan for a tiny house community and several adjustments to development standards were included as well. The Parcel was bought for $470,000 on 4/26/2024 and contained a SFR.

Affordable Housing

In the last 12 months, the City spent $369,493,514.68 for affordable housing creation, preservation, rental subsidies, and homelessness resolution services.

Some new affordable housing developments/rehabs can be seen here:

The City also heavily invests into combating homelessness. For example, they approved a 20-year, $73.7 million contract with MHMP 21 Navajo LLLP to provide rental subsidies for 94 permanent supportive housing units. This isn’t a construction contract, but a long-term operating subsidy.

Shelter system operators like Salvation Army or the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless saw their contracts expand/extend for $19.35 million and $17.8 million respectively.

Conclusion

When taking away the citywide adoption of ADUs, which is a direct response to Colorado’s House Bill 24-1152, the City Council of Denver has created a projected 1,489 units. Granted, most of them are affordable, but with the current housing deficit, this might not be enough.

In any case, we’ll be continuing to monitor the City Council & Planning Department decisions and if you want to get email alerts every time new CRE-related decisions in Denver happen, then feel free to sign up here.

Bye now,
Daniel Heller
[email protected]

Our publishing schedule:

Day 1: Denver, CO
Day 2: Phoenix, AZ
Day 3: Louisville, KY
Day 4: Seattle, WA
Day 5: San Francisco, CA
Day 6: New York, NY
Day 7: Houston, TX
Day 8: Atlanta, GA
Day 9: Charlotte, NC
Day 10: Chicago, IL
Day 11: Columbus, OH
Day 12: Jacksonville, FL
Day 13: Los Angeles, CA
Day 14: Nashville, TN
Day 15: Philadelphia, PA