Growth in the Denver area has led to a high need for new housing. And developers are trying to build to meet demand.
Last year, the metro area saw a glut of newly filed permits: 13,368 for new apartments and 10,104 for new single-family homes, according to a new report from Apartment List.
Nationwide housing prices have skyrocketed in recent years, and more than a million new apartments are under construction -- the most since 1970. Another 679,000 permits were issued for new construction around the country.
Austin has seen the most new construction in the 50 largest metro areas in the United States; Denver is in 12th place.
Stimulating new housing construction, increasing income-restricted housing and creating social housing have been hot topics in the 2023 election.
In Denver, Community Planning and Development permitting times continue to lag.
According to city records, over the past 90 days, major residential projects -- single-family homes and the like -- are nearly 13 weeks behind. New multifamily building permits are nearly 7 weeks behind.
Vouchers are one of the primary tools the city and associated nonprofits use to ensure people who can't afford market-rate rents are housed. But according to a recent study by Denver's Housekeys Action Network, just 8% of people who are lucky enough to secure a voucher are actually able to find available housing.
Locally and nationally speaking, there aren't enough homes to keep everybody affordably housed.
"While encouraging, this recent construction boom does not change the fact that the nation is currently in the midst of a broad housing affordability crisis that has built up over many years," according to the Apartment List report.
