The city has an office of HOPE.
Would you like the definition? "Housing and Opportunities for People Everywhere."
Would you like to hear it used in a sentence?
The city of Denver hopes we'll stop talking about how it hasn't delivered on its plan for 400 affordable apartments.
On Wednesday, a city council committee received an update on the program that Mayor Michael Hancock unveiled during his State of the City address in July.
At the time, he said, "We know that many residents need an affordable housing today, not a year from now. We will pilot a new partnership to open 400 existing vacant apartments to low and moderate-income residents struggling to find an affordable place to live."
The program still hasn't started and the director of the city's Office of Hope has since left.
"We had intended to move the first people in as the Mayor had committed in the State of the City address, by the end of the year," said Erik Soliván, Denver's former HOPE Director. "[City] Council has a lot of varied opinions about how to address the affordable housing issues."
On Wednesday, the city council learned that the new move-in date for first tenants is anticipated to be in August, 13 months after the mayor's announcement.
"I think there may be some challenges with that. Part of the data that led to the recognition of the 20-plus apartments that came in goes back to end of December, early January. Half a year is a long period of time when you're looking at lease-up rates," said Soliván. "My guess is they will probably have to go back out to those partners and say, 'Hey, we went to you in December (and) January, we need to go back out and refresh the data."
He said the rental rates the potential apartments proposed at the end of last year were based on vacancy rates and concessions being offered by the properties at that time, such as one-month free or free parking. He suspects those properties have different needs now that so much time has passed.
Even though he is not in charge of the program, he defended it and made it clear that he does not believe this is a bailout for apartments that are priced too high. He said the formula that the city will use will be based of comparable rental rates within a half mile.
