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We need housing in Boulder County. The Community Foundation Trends report shows that we have created 3.5 jobs for every one unit of housing. About 65% of our workers commute, most in single-occupant vehicles. We will not achieve our emission reduction goals if we don’t find ways to allow people to live near where they work.
County Issue 1B proposes to repurpose an existing tax to fund affordable and attainable housing. Middle-class people in our community know their children will not be able to afford to live here. Seniors know they can’t afford to downsize, as counter-intuitive as that seems. People on fixed incomes like folks with disabilities or seniors are just out of luck unless we change things.
Proposition 1 B will do just that.
It will create a locally-controlled pot of money (without state or federal restrictions) which will be used to support low- and moderate-income housing in our community. This includes both opportunities for home ownership, supportive services, and rental assistance. Uses of the funds could include building more housing, renovating housing, or creating programs to help people who are one paycheck away from eviction to stay in their current housing.
Already we are seeing changes in our schools with combined classrooms because enrollment is down, as a direct result of families being unable to afford to live here. If we want to be a diverse, thriving, vibrant community with people of all generations and incomes we need to find ways of creating housing that people can afford. Join me in supporting County Issue 1B.
If passed by voters, without raising taxes, County Issue 1B will generate about $17 million per year for housing for the next 15 years. Survey after survey consistently says that housing and homelessness is our number one community problem. Now we have a chance to do something about it. I urge voters to check out www.Yeson1B.com for more information and to support this measure as more than 20 community organizations have done, and the list is growing every day.
Annmarie Jensen
Director, East County Housing Opportunity Coalition
