Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is Colorado's morning news. A new housing report from
the Common Sense Institute shows Colorado has a mismatch problem
when it comes to finding housing in their income range.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
In fact, in twenty twenty three, sixty percent of Colorado
households did not earn enough to afford the average home
available in the state. That's up from forty seven percent
in twenty ten. Joining us now on the KWA Common
Spirit Health Hotline is Peter Lafari, housing policy fellow for
the Common Sense Institute. Peter, thank you so much for
your time this morning.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Yeah, good morning, It's great to be with you.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Our Business and Money editor Patwa are joining us on
this conversation as well.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
Before we look a little.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Bit at the specifics of this CSI report, first, just
explain how this mismatch rate was compared and how does
it look for CSI when you're analyzing this data.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Yeah, you know, what we're looking at is what is
the average Colorado and can home price that they can
afford at prevailing thirty year mortgage rates. And so what
we found was shocking statistics that you just shared.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
The tory always seems to be one of the biggest
factors when it comes to home prices. Has that equation
improved at all for people who want to buy homes
but haven't because they're priced out of the market, you.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Know, unfortunately it hasn't. You know, really, what the issue
is here is that Coloradens are just struggling to come
to terms with the type of zoning that gives homebuilders
a chance to deliver the home types that can really
be around that three hundred thousand dollars purchase price, which
is the sweet spot for the vast majority of Coloradens.
(01:33):
So forty percent of us can afford homes at that
three hundred thousand dollars mark, but that only makes up
about fifteen percent of the current average value of owner
occupied homes. And so we do see. You know, we've
had a couple good years of housing starts, but that
has cratered as capital markets that become more caustic, and
(01:53):
so in the front range. In twenty twenty four, we
issued just over sixteen five hundred permits sixty six hundred
and fifteen. It's about half of what our data demonstrates
is required for us to be able to bridge the
housing unit shortfall.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Peter, I know you don't like to ascribe blame. But
I have friends and relatives that are in the developer
side of things, and they usually point to municipalities and
communities when it comes to some of the regulation for building.
You're kind of saying the same thing, that that is
a barrier of entry to build those kind of homes
that are affordable. Did I hear you right?
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Yeah? I want to be respectful of our local governments
and our neighbors. You know, the folks are just uncomfortable.
We can't do things the way that our grandparents and
great grandparents did. Unfortunately, you know, we still desire the
American dream of a single family home, white picket fence
and all the beauty and bounty that provides. But unfortunately
land is scarce and costly, labor is scarce and costly,
(02:49):
and commodities remain stubbornly high. And so locally elected officials
really are mirrors of their constituents, and the constituents that
are in a home are saying, hey, wait a minute,
we really don't like the idea of more density. We
are scared of it. And because we go through you know,
kind of the rage theater, as I call it, individual
housing developments, approval by approval It really triggers our lizard brains.
(03:13):
It makes us defensive. And it's not because we're mean
or we're not, you know, kind of community minded. We're just,
you know, frankly uncomfortable with the process and the way
that it's promulgated.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
And so you know, there are.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Ways we can go about changing that. And here's the
thing is is Colorado's they're agrious. Heck, you know when
when they're in public hearings approving these projects one by one,
but once they're built, we know that they love them.
They vote with their wallets. We look at examples like
bradburd and Westbourne, or in Westminster, or South Maine and
(03:50):
Buona Vista. Folks desire these denser communities. They want to
live there, They vacation there, they visit, they spend their money.
And so the fight is always before the ribbon cutting,
never after. And so we're going to have to have
this cultural conversation because otherwise Coloradins say no, we don't
want it. They litigate, they recall, and things stall to
(04:12):
a glacial speed. And here we are now.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
We did just see the City of Denver removed some
requirements about how many parking places developers are required to
provide for new housing construction. So is there at least
a recognition that developers might need some sort of regulatory relief.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Absolutely. You know, the vast majority of locally elected officials
that I talked to, it's either their number one or
number one a priority is to crack the new Colorado
starter home and try to deliver an asset that Colorados
can afford. And so they're trying these things. So is
the State Assembly. You know, but there's this real strong
(04:50):
debate right now between you know, what's the right approach.
Is it statewide intervention? Is housing a matter of blended
in local control or is it strictly local control? And
with folks that vote, what they're doing is they're saying, hey,
wait a minute, we don't like this density, but the
density is exactly the types of homes, and it's not
we're not talking about massive multifamily apartment buildings here. What
(05:13):
we're we're subsidized. Frankly, what we're talking about is light touch,
gentle density quads, duplexes that are interspersed in our communities
with micro commerce so folks can walk, grab a coffee,
grab a cocktail, see some live music, be able to
jump on their electric bike or their car and be
(05:33):
able to get home, and so local governments are trying.
We're starting to see some progress, but we're not going
far enough, nor are we going fast enough.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
The report titled Colorado's Housing Affordability Mismatch. You can find
it at Commonsense Institute CEO dot org. Peter Lafari, the
Housing Policy Fellow for the Common Sense Institute, thank you
so much for your time today,
It is Colorado's morning news. A new housing report from
the Common Sense Institute shows Colorado has a mismatch problem
when it comes to finding housing in their income range.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
In fact, in twenty twenty three, sixty percent of Colorado
households did not earn enough to afford the average home
available in the state. That's up from forty seven percent
in twenty ten. Joining us now on the KWA Common
Spirit Health Hotline is Peter Lafari, housing policy fellow for
the Common Sense Institute. Peter, thank you so much for
your time this morning.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Yeah, good morning, It's great to be with you.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Our Business and Money editor Patwa are joining us on
this conversation as well.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
Before we look a little.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Bit at the specifics of this CSI report, first, just
explain how this mismatch rate was compared and how does
it look for CSI when you're analyzing this data.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Yeah, you know, what we're looking at is what is
the average Colorado and can home price that they can
afford at prevailing thirty year mortgage rates. And so what
we found was shocking statistics that you just shared.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
The tory always seems to be one of the biggest
factors when it comes to home prices. Has that equation
improved at all for people who want to buy homes
but haven't because they're priced out of the market, you.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Know, unfortunately it hasn't. You know, really, what the issue
is here is that Coloradens are just struggling to come
to terms with the type of zoning that gives homebuilders
a chance to deliver the home types that can really
be around that three hundred thousand dollars purchase price, which
is the sweet spot for the vast majority of Coloradens.
(01:33):
So forty percent of us can afford homes at that
three hundred thousand dollars mark, but that only makes up
about fifteen percent of the current average value of owner
occupied homes. And so we do see. You know, we've
had a couple good years of housing starts, but that
has cratered as capital markets that become more caustic, and
(01:53):
so in the front range. In twenty twenty four, we
issued just over sixteen five hundred permits sixty six hundred
and fifteen. It's about half of what our data demonstrates
is required for us to be able to bridge the
housing unit shortfall.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Peter, I know you don't like to ascribe blame. But
I have friends and relatives that are in the developer
side of things, and they usually point to municipalities and
communities when it comes to some of the regulation for building.
You're kind of saying the same thing, that that is
a barrier of entry to build those kind of homes
that are affordable. Did I hear you right?
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Yeah? I want to be respectful of our local governments
and our neighbors. You know, the folks are just uncomfortable.
We can't do things the way that our grandparents and
great grandparents did. Unfortunately, you know, we still desire the
American dream of a single family home, white picket fence
and all the beauty and bounty that provides. But unfortunately
land is scarce and costly, labor is scarce and costly,
(02:49):
and commodities remain stubbornly high. And so locally elected officials
really are mirrors of their constituents, and the constituents that
are in a home are saying, hey, wait a minute,
we really don't like the idea of more density. We
are scared of it. And because we go through you know,
kind of the rage theater, as I call it, individual
housing developments, approval by approval It really triggers our lizard brains.
(03:13):
It makes us defensive. And it's not because we're mean
or we're not, you know, kind of community minded. We're just,
you know, frankly uncomfortable with the process and the way
that it's promulgated.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
And so you know, there are.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Ways we can go about changing that. And here's the
thing is is Colorado's they're agrious. Heck, you know when
when they're in public hearings approving these projects one by one,
but once they're built, we know that they love them.
They vote with their wallets. We look at examples like
bradburd and Westbourne, or in Westminster, or South Maine and
(03:50):
Buona Vista. Folks desire these denser communities. They want to
live there, They vacation there, they visit, they spend their money.
And so the fight is always before the ribbon cutting,
never after. And so we're going to have to have
this cultural conversation because otherwise Coloradins say no, we don't
want it. They litigate, they recall, and things stall to
(04:12):
a glacial speed. And here we are now.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
We did just see the City of Denver removed some
requirements about how many parking places developers are required to
provide for new housing construction. So is there at least
a recognition that developers might need some sort of regulatory relief.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Absolutely. You know, the vast majority of locally elected officials
that I talked to, it's either their number one or
number one a priority is to crack the new Colorado
starter home and try to deliver an asset that Colorados
can afford. And so they're trying these things. So is
the State Assembly. You know, but there's this real strong
(04:50):
debate right now between you know, what's the right approach.
Is it statewide intervention? Is housing a matter of blended
in local control or is it strictly local control? And
with folks that vote, what they're doing is they're saying, hey,
wait a minute, we don't like this density, but the
density is exactly the types of homes, and it's not
we're not talking about massive multifamily apartment buildings here. What
(05:13):
we're we're subsidized. Frankly, what we're talking about is light touch,
gentle density quads, duplexes that are interspersed in our communities
with micro commerce so folks can walk, grab a coffee,
grab a cocktail, see some live music, be able to
jump on their electric bike or their car and be
(05:33):
able to get home, and so local governments are trying.
We're starting to see some progress, but we're not going
far enough, nor are we going fast enough.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
The report titled Colorado's Housing Affordability Mismatch. You can find
it at Commonsense Institute CEO dot org. Peter Lafari, the
Housing Policy Fellow for the Common Sense Institute, thank you
so much for your time today,
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