“With some of the fastest-rising rents in the nation, Denver’s working poor have a rough time balancing the cost of life and getting to work. An expanded fund announced Tuesday hopes to alleviate some of that housing and transportation stress.
The Denver Transit-Oriented Development Fund, launched in 2010, added a new goal to create 2,000 affordable-housing units near public transit in the next 10 years. This includes an additional $10.5 million investment from state housing agencies and expanding the program to six metro counties.
“Low-income families in this region spend on average 60 percent of their gross income on the combined cost of housing and transportation alone. So if you let that sink in, that doesn’t leave much left for anything else, whether it’s education, food or health care,” fund program director Brad Weinig said during a publicity event at the Wellington E. Webb Building downtown. “We can no longer afford to address one cost without addressing the other. They are inexplicably linked in our minds.”
The goal of 2,000 affordable-housing units would target residents who earn $46,000 or less for a family of four — or 60 percent of the area’s median income.”
Chaung, Tamara. Denver Post 16 December 2014.