Photo: Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post

A new law would open the door for spread of low-cost housing approach

By ANDREW KENNEY | akenney@denverpost.com | The Denver Post
PUBLISHED: July 25, 2019 at 6:00 am | UPDATED: July 25, 2019 at 8:18 am

It’s been two years since an experiment in housing began in Denver. The city’s first legal “tiny homes” opened along 38th Avenue, and 20 people escaped homelessness.

The Beloved Community Village still stands — but it stands alone. Visions of a network of self-governed villages have been slowed by city regulations, neighborhood resistance and a competitive land market.
Now, that may change: Denver Councilwoman at-large Robin Kniech wants to allow villages to be built across more of the city and for longer periods of time.

“It seemed important to me that we have this more regulated, healthier, safer interim housing use. This is a way that can be sanitary and safe for the neighborhoods around them, and it’s dignified,” Kniech said.
RELATED: Tiny homes as affordable and alternative housing gain in popularity. Colorado is at forefront of the movement.

She is proposing that the city change its rules to allow tiny-home villages on far more properties. The change could make it much easier and simpler to build the low-cost housing communities in Denver.
“We’ve had a ton of trouble with siting,” said village organizer Cole Chandler. “One of the problems we face with neighborhoods is people crying, ‘This isn’t even legal.’ They have the ability to shut this down like it wasn’t a traditional project.”

The biggest problem is that the city’s laws weren’t designed for tiny-home villages. Currently, they’re only allowed through creative lawyering and legal exceptions. Under Kniech’s proposal, which was written with city staff, villages would be officially allowed in industrial, mixed-use and commercial zones. Opening up industrial sites could give organizers new access to warehouse sites on the edge of residential neighborhoods.

Villages also would be allowed on church sites, community centers and other institutional sites in residential neighborhoods, but not directly on single-family properties. Villages in residential areas would be limited to 30 homes, depending on space. All units would have to be at least 70 square feet.
Villages would not need special approvals by the Denver City Council, but city staff would review each application. This year, the council allowed the Beloved village to move onto a city site in Globeville despite intense neighborhood resistance.

“It’s still a pretty rigid approach. It’s still high standards for health and safety,” Kniech said of the new proposal.
They would be allowed to get six-month permits or two-year permits, with the option to renew once. The long-term permits would require more permanent facilities and utility connections, as opposed to portable toilets for short-term permits. Village organizers would have to hold community meetings early in the application process and draw up detailed plans about their management, Kniech said.
She also wants the city to play a greater role in supporting new villages, especially by arranging social services at village sites.

“Most cities have provided more financial support either for services or land than Denver has,” she said, noting that the city of Seattle has funded several villages. In fact, they make up about 13 percent of the city’s shelter space, although some of the Seattle villages have been racked by infighting and management controversies, The Seattle Times reported.

Tiny homes can’t play the same role as permanent housing, and even the most ambitious visions wouldn’t produce enough to put a major dent in housing demand — but they have gotten buzz as an option for those experiencing homelessness because they can be built quickly and relatively cheaply. The village in Denver also is self-governed, making it a symbol for housing organizers of what can be accomplished by grassroots groups.
Ideally, Kneich said, villages would be an interim step on the way to long-term housing, which the city is racing to build more of. “We need enough options so that folks can go to shelter, to tiny-home villages, to transitional housing,” she said.

The proposal is headed to the council this fall.