Denver's Thirty-Point Plan to Address Homelessness and Housing Issues

On Friday morning, May 19, Mayor Michael Hancock and other Denver officials announced at the city's annual Housing Summit a number of new initiatives to address homelessness, rising rent costs and a lack of affordable housing in Denver.

Mayor Hancock opened the summit, which was held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Denver, by citing some sobering facts about the housing market.

“It seems like every month we get another report that Denver's housing costs have increased,” Hancock said. “And today we are seeing that nearly three out of four individuals experiencing homelessness are working.”

According to charts and tables that were included in information packets passed out at the summit, median rent costs for apartments in Denver have risen 67 percent over the past five years, and a little over a third (36 percent) of all Denver households are “housing cost burdened,” meaning that their occupants pay over 30 percent of their gross income for housing and utilities.

Read more: http://www.westword.com/news/michael-hancock-and-erik-solivan-announce-aid-for-homeless-and-renters-9078198