A homebuilder is suing the city of Denver for a law that requires developers to pay a fee into the city’s affordable housing fund when they build new structures.
The company, redT Homes, boasts it builds homes that are “lite on your wallet and lite on the planet.” Denver’s affordable housing mandates, the company argues, are preventing the builder from doing just that.
“Denver reached the remarkable conclusion that its housing shortage is caused by building more homes,” according to the complaint filed Thursday in federal court. “Thus, it refuses to issue development permits until homebuilders like redT—the very people resolving housing affordability issues adding much-needed supply— pay a fee into Denver’s affordable housing fund.”
The city imposed an affordable housing fee of $45,000 on two proposed duplexes and another $25,000 on four proposed single-family homes, the lawsuit stated.
In both cases, redT asked for the fees to be waived – a request the city denied. The Denver City Attorney’s Office did not respond to an immediate request for comment.
redT Homes argues the ordinance is unconstitutional. The claim: Government can only demand property or money as a condition of approving a land use permit if the fee would help address a public impact caused by the development.
“Permit conditions for new construction must be proportional and directly related to the construction’s impact,” argued Deerson. “But new housing construction doesn’t create affordability problems — it helps to solve them.”
