Kelly Brough is no stranger to firsts.

She’s been the “first” at least three times in her life, and there’s potential for a fourth. She’s one of 17 people, and five women, vying to be Denver’s 46th mayor. 

Each time she became the “first” – first on-call snowplow driver at Stapleton Airport, first female head of human resources at the City of Denver, first female president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce – she pursued the job because she felt qualified to do it. Not because she was the first woman to hold that position.

And that trend continues, but that’s not why she’s running.

“My personal background and my professional experience prepared me for this job, and so that’s why I decided to go for it,” she said. “Being the mayor requires someone who’s been an executive and I have that as CEO of the Chamber.” 

Brough served as John Hickenlooper’s chief of staff when he was mayor and she’s been a legislative analyst of all 13 members of the Denver City Council.

Early on, Brough didn’t think she was going to run at all, despite multiple people over multiple years telling her she should run. But the one voice that rang out above the others was that of her terminally ill father, who said in no uncertain terms that she should run. She told the Denver Gazette previously the office of mayor is the only political office she will seek. 

“This isn’t a stepping stone for me,” she said. 

Raised by her mother and adoptive father in Montana, Brough is no stranger to needed assistance. After her father was injured on the job and couldn’t work, the family qualified for food stamps and free or reduced lunch in school. She worked at a Dairy Queen, ultimately saving $10,000 to get herself into college at Montana State University. 

Brough and her husband moved to Denver in 1986. It turned out to be a great opportunity, she said. The two of them went back to school and advanced their educations, attended their respective graduations, started businesses and got good jobs. They had two daughters. 

Denver had huge promise, she said. But her husband struggled with addiction and died by suicide.

“When I look at what’s happening in Denver today and what people are struggling with and I feel like I understand the challenge,” she said. “I understand it, but I also believe in the human spirit and the spirit of community and what it can do to help you get through those times and find your way.”

This shapes her approach to addressing the issues Denver faces, whether homelessness and the affordable housing crisis, or the many public safety issues. 

On homelessness, Brough supports enforcing the camping ban and ending unsanctioned camping in her first year in office. But she recognizes that’s not enough and said she’d temporarily sanction camping sites while the city builds better shelter options. Though supportive of enforcing the urban camping ban, Brough is opposed to sweeps which she says are not working. 

“We do this endlessly and we have to accept that is not working” Brough said. “I will move people to safer locations, indoors whenever possible, where we have shelter and bed space available.” 

Brough added she supports creating temporary, sanctioned camping sites while shelters are being built or repurposed. Enforcement of the camping ban would come primarily from outreach workers; law enforcement would become involved only if needed. 

Her plan to address homelessness doesn’t stop at the city boundary either. Brough has committed to working with surrounding towns and cities to holistically approach the problem. Her campaign and homeless plan have attracted the endorsement of five area city mayors. The plan relies heavily on effective data gathering and analysis so that efforts are not duplicated. 

While homelessness in Denver does not have any one root cause, the cost of housing is a contributing factor. It’s a supply-demand issue, Brough said. 

“We’ve asked private sector developers to build more affordable housing and we’ve added a number of requirements, and developers have said it’s too hard to meet those requirements,” she said. “So, we’re actually getting less of what we need … We have to increase the supply of housing.” 

One option she sees is encouraging the development of entry level condos or townhomes. Nationwide, condos account for roughly 20% of new development and construction according to Brough. In Denver it’s 4% – most of which is high end or luxury housing. 

Brough wants to build affordable condos or townhomes to help first-time buyers. This opens the door to building equity, giving flexibility to move to a larger space should they want to start a family and require a bigger space. But Denver has space limitations. Brough has a potential solution for that. 

“In Munich, I toured a recreation center, and it had a surface parking lot, but on top of it, they built 100 affordable units. The coolest part was the playground for the kids because it was on the top floor,” she said. “It was interesting to see. In the daytime people came in to use the rec center, park and leave, and then residents would come home.” 

Brough sees the potential of affordable housing built in the parking lots of Denver Public Schools, police stations and recreation centers, similar to Munich. This approach to development has the added benefit of increasing access to transit, she said, changing the perception that Denver was not built for everyone working here. 

Improving Public safety and reducing crime are also priorities. The city has an authorized strength of just under 1,600 police officers and Brough said the city is about 10% short of filling that. Part of the issue is recruiting new police officers and filling academy classes. 

“We have to really show our officers support and rebuild the trust relationship of them knowing that we respect them, and communities know they respect all communities in Denver,” she said. “I don’t get to go in and tell the community ‘Here’s how I’m going to make you trust us.’  I would say to them: ‘What can we begin to do?'”

Additionally, Brough wants to expand the Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) program by as much as 50%. She said adding mental health professionals to other emergency responders, like firefighters and emergency medical technicians, should also be considered because of the many 911 calls requiring additional expertise. 

The 2023 municipal general election is April 4. If needed, a runoff will occur in June. Ballot’s will be sent out by the city beginning on March 13.