Colorado Springs mayoral candidates address affordable homeownership

Feb. 28—The 12 candidates with sights on becoming Colorado Springs' next mayor took the stage to address affordable homeownership at a forum Tuesday.

Hosted by Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity, KRDO NewsRadio and KRDO NewsChannel 13, the forum offered insight into each mayoral candidate's priorities on the critical topic ahead of the municipal election April 4. Candidates took questions on affordable homeownership in Colorado Springs, amid a housing price explosion in the past decade, despite some housing market cool down in recent months.

While the median price of homes that sold during the fourth quarter of 2022 rose by a miniscule 0.2% increase over the same period in 2021, veteran real estate agent Harry Salzman predicted to The Gazette earlier this month that housing prices will increase 3-5% in 2023.

Rent prices in Colorado Springs are also high. Previous reporting shows the average rent for a two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment last year was $1,514, according to an analysis by the city, which is well above the maximum $1,151 that a family of four should pay to meet the HUD definition of "affordable housing."

The forum offered dozens of voters attending at The Ent Center for the Arts an insight into each mayoral candidate's solutions and priorities on the issue. Here's what they had to say.

Sallie Clark

Clark is in favor of growth and creating more affordable housing options, but also investing in repairs so people can live in their home long-term. She wants to bring Colorado Springs citizens and developers together to generate less costly housing solutions.

Clark also spoke in support of Colorado Proposition 123, which dedicates tax revenue to affordable housing and regulated programs since it was passed last year.

Andrew Dalby

Dalby called for affordable housing where first-time home buyers can get there foot in the door with a down payment they can afford. He called on his own experience when he tried to expand his small business with a second property, but so many regulations made it unaffordable.

He also said development rights should be in the hands of the neighborhood impacted. "I want every house in Colorado Springs to be affordable for the person who lives in it," Dalby said.

Darryl Glenn

Glenn said housing affordability comes down to how hard one wants to work, while recognizing rising interest rates and a need to review state and federal policies, especially environmental standards, that increase housing costs. "It's not the governments job to create affordability," he said, adding that some questions about housing affordability are balanced on questions about the city's available water.

He committed to addressing city infrastructure after he said the city has not properly invested in infrastructure.

Longinos Gonzalez, Jr.

Gonzalez said the greatest barrier for potential homeowners is a the down payment, but he also called issue with regulatory fees that contribute to increased home prices. He called for regulation to be cut and control to be given back to local decision makers who will fight for the community.

"We should not be getting more government involvement and more government regulation, we should be cutting our regulation and cutting cost," he said.

Lawrence Joseph Martinez

Martinez put an emphasis on education and wages in his solution for affordable housing. He said not only do students need to be educated on how to buy a home, but community members need to be reeducated on what they can afford. Martinez also criticized the debt associated with higher education and said there should be an emphasis on preparing high school students to move right into the workforce to avoid debt and better afford housing.

Martinez said there should community involvement with developers to create a long-term plan could bring about solutions to affordable homeownership.

Jim Miller

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"Just a guy" Jim Miller said he is fed up with the city taking money from his paycheck. "Laws, rules, fees, fines, taxes," he said when asked about barriers to affordable housing. "All this stuff adds up and makes it less affordable every day for all of us"

His message is lower taxes and fees to put money back in the citizens' pockets, but he also put pressure on the people to be asking their own questions and creating their own solutions for affordable housing, rather than relying on who he called "career politicians."

Christopher Mitchell

Mitchell said the affordable housing crisis is thanks to a lack of understanding at the city-level. As an engineer, he called for growth with stability, rather than the city creating affordable housing.

He also said that it will be important to define the unaffordability issue before defining goals to combat housing issues, but criticized a zoning ordinance update called ReToolCOS, and said this is one regulation he plans to sunset.

Yemi Mobolade

Mobolade's stance on affordable housing emphasized supply and demand. He said the city is 12,000 units short and called for more affording housing developments to meet supply in the growing region.

"We have to be OK with innovative and new forms and housing," he said, sharing plans to implement different types of housing that would cater to different groups likes college students, teachers and other workers. "Growth and development is good."

Kallan Reece Rodebaugh

Rodebaugh brought a younger perspective to the issue with personal experience in his definition of affordable housing: "It's when I don't have to ask my parents for money on rent," he said.

He called for new developments, higher buildings and more trailer parks to create opportunities for affordable home ownership.

Tom Strand

Strand focused his point on money and supply, saying that the lacking supply has driven up housing costs. His solution? More housing options, including smaller lots, duplexes, one-bedroom apartments and tiny homes.

Strand said there is a need to build more houses at lower rates, and while Mayor John Suthers surpassed his goal of creating 2,000 new homes, Strand believes the city needs a lot more than that.

John "Tig" Tiegen

Tiegen called issue with the big corporations and developers who own rental properties and control rental prices. As a solution, he proposed that developers in Colorado Springs should be held accountable and pay 1% of profits to a trust that would be put toward affordable housing construction.

He also said part of this affordability issue is caused by a disproportionate amount of entry level jobs and less career jobs in Colorado Springs.

Wayne Williams

Williams said local government should be working to increase the number of entry-level home ownership products, especially condominiums after only seven were built last year due to regulations, far behind the thousands of apartments and houses built. He also wants to be prepared to address constraints introduced by the Colorado River and fully utilize financial resources.

"With respect to home ownership and housing availability, I want to make sure that we, in due process, fully use our allocation from the Colorado Housing and Finance Administration. There have been years prior to my service on council that we did not use the money that was available," he said.

The forum arrives on the heels of last week's mayoral debate, where seven of the 12 candidates addressed public safety, growth and development, and the city's economic vitality in the face of recession downtown.

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