More affordable housing units are under construction in the Park Hill neighborhood as Denver marked its largest, city-funded affordable housing project to break ground since the development of the Department of Housing Stability (HOST) in 2019.

Mayor Michael Hancock joined developers Delwest Development Corp. at a late June groundbreaking ceremony for the Holly38 development. The project will bring in 253 affordable apartment units spread across eight three-story buildings.

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“Everyone should have the opportunity to affordably live and work in Denver. Projects like Holly38 deliver on that promise,” Hancock said in a news release. “We’re working on every level to create and preserve affordable housing for hard-working individuals and families. Today’s groundbreaking continues our momentum in creating a healthy, housed and connected Denver.”

The income-restricted housing will support individual tenants and families by providing one, two, three and four-bedroom homes to households earning 30% to 80% of the area median income. Vouchers from the Denver Housing Authority will ensure none of the residents pay more than 30% of their income on rent, according to HOST.

A one-person household making $66,300 is at 80% of the area median income this year, while a household making $26,100 is at the 30% threshold.

The six-acre site is at the corner of 38th and Holly Streets. The total project cost is $92.7 million and includes $8.3 million in city financing from the American Rescue Plan Act and federal HOME Investment Partnerships program.

Additional affordable housing aimed and supporting low-income seniors is also on its way. The Denver City Council approved a bill in June that authorizes issuing up to $11 million in multifamily housing revenue bonds to help finance affordable housing for low-income seniors.

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The All Saints Apartments is a four-story, 63-unit affordable apartment project at 2595 South Federal Boulevard being developed by Archdiocesan Housing, Inc.(AHI), a subsidiary of Catholic Charities. The complex will be located on the campus of All Saints Catholic Church.

The building will be 100% restricted to seniors who are at 30% to 60% of the area median income. Residents will be 62 and older.

The development is expected to comprise primarily one-bedroom units, several studio apartments, a fitness room, a reading room, a game room, shared laundry, office space, a mail room and bike storage. Construction was expected to start this summer.

AHI also applied to the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority for low-income housing tax credits to support the project, which had been estimated to cost at least $18 million, according to a previous news release from Catholic Charities. A spokesperson was not immediately available Monday.

The city council approved issuing the bonds without discussion June 26. The bill advanced from the finance and government committee in early June as part of the committee’s consent agenda. The bonds do not create debt for Denver but will be used to provide a loan to help finance the apartment project.

The median single-family home in Denver sold for $720,000 in March 2022, meaning the typical household would need more than $140,000 to make a 20% down payment on that home, according to the Department of Housing Stability’s 2023 Action Plan.

Rents reached $1,683 per month in January 2022. Households needed to make more than $67,000 annually to pay no more than 30% of their income on rent for a median apartment, according to the plan. That was twice the earning of a worker making minimum wage.

Those circumstances left one in every three Denver households paying more than 30% of its income on housing.

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