DHA seeks Barnum rezoning for 10-home affordable tandem-house pilot

The Denver Housing Authority is seeking to rezone three lots in Barnum and Barnum West for the first phase of a 10-home permanently affordable tandem-homeownership pilot. The proposal has not received final City Council approval.

The requested change would move the properties at 76 N. Hazel Court, 80–90 N. Yates Street and 4519 W. 3rd Avenue from E-SU-Dx, a single-unit residential district, to E-TU-C, which allows two-unit forms including tandem houses. The parcels total about 25,420 square feet.

The rezoning application lists Denver Housing LLC, whose sole member is the Housing Authority of the City and County of Denver, as the owner. Councilwoman Jamie Torres, whose District 3 includes the properties, is listed as the council sponsor.

The three lots are among 10 properties in the first phase of DHA’s Single Family+ Affordable Homeownership Pilot Project. The application says the homes would primarily serve households earning no more than 80% of the area median income and would be developed with Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver and the Colorado Community Land Trust.

The application describes the homes collectively and does not provide a separate unit count or construction schedule for each parcel. It calls for family-sized tandem homes using pre-designed, panelized construction, with energy-efficient, all-electric and solar-ready features. The record does not include parcel-specific site plans, floor plans, building dimensions, parking plans or construction dates.

How the affordability model would work

DHA proposes placing the homes in a 99-year community land trust. In the typical model, a nonprofit land trust retains ownership of the land while a homeowner owns the house and leases the land through a long-term ground lease. The lease generally sets responsibilities for the homeowner and trust and includes resale provisions intended to preserve affordability for a later buyer.

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy explains that community land trust resale rules are designed to balance a homeowner’s ability to build some equity with the trust’s goal of preserving affordability. Denver has described a similar ownership split in another local community land trust project, with homeowners owning the improvements while the trust retains the land under a renewable 99-year lease.

The application does not specify the pilot’s final ground-lease language, resale-price formula, buyer-selection rules, income-verification process or treatment of future appreciation. It references HOST and Proposition 123 resources but does not provide a project budget, per-home cost, sales price or complete funding stack.

Review and upcoming schedule

Denver Community Planning and Development staff recommended approval, and the Denver Planning Board unanimously recommended approval on Aug. 19. No public comments were recorded at that hearing, according to the staff report.

As of Aug. 28, the next scheduled step was a Community Planning and Housing Committee hearing at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 1 in Room 391 of the City and County Building. The committee agenda lists the rezoning as item 26-1252.

The staff report lists Sept. 22 as a tentative date for posting and notice of a City Council public hearing and Oct. 13 as the tentative hearing date. The records reviewed do not establish a final City Council vote or decision date. The scheduled hearings had not occurred as of the reporting date.

Community response

DHA’s outreach materials say the agency met with Torres on Feb. 4, presented the project to the Community Coalition for Barnum on Feb. 10, mailed notices to residents within 200 feet on April 1 and held meetings at Barnum Park on April 11 and virtually on April 21.

The agency’s outreach record says the Community Coalition for Barnum issued a letter of support after the February presentation. The record does not include the letter, identify its signers, say whether support was unanimous or describe any conditions. DHA also characterizes nearby neighbors as supportive but provides no names, attendance figures or individual statements.

The account is not fully reconciled in the city’s later review record. The staff report lists the Community Coalition of Barnum, Far East Center and Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation as the relevant registered neighborhood organizations and says staff had received no comments from RNOs or members of the public as of the report date. The Community Coalition for Barnum identifies itself as an RNO representing Barnum and Barnum West, but the materials reviewed do not include its support letter or document responses from the other listed groups.

No opposition from nearby residents or registered neighborhood organizations is documented in the records reviewed. That absence does not establish that no opposition exists.

If approved, the rezoning would allow DHA and its partners to pursue the proposed homes. It would not approve construction plans or establish that the homes will be built.