Housing

Let’s make our options for housing in Boulder consistent with sustainability, resilience, and equity.

Boulder has a shortage of housing stock overall. Within that, we especially have a shortage of options in the “middle housing” category, which means duplexes and triplexes, townhomes, small apartment buildings, cottage courts, co-ops, small houses on small lots, and multiple small houses on large lots. We have a shortage of housing at affordable price points.

The lack of affordable housing contributes to real problems for the city including a workforce shortage, a traffic surplus from in-commuters who can’t find suitable housing in Boulder, insufficient choices for families leading to declining school enrollment, and major headwinds in the effort to keep and grow diversity in our community of residents.

This situation is largely a result of past and current planning choices that force residents to over-consume energy and space.

As a member of City Council, I will work to:

  • Reform zoning to make it easier to encourage infill development and build more middle housing options. Allow more forms of development by-right, especially middle housing, and reduce minimum lot sizes, switch long lists of requirements to lists of specific disallowances, and set out corridor plans for more people-centered, transit-oriented spaces on busy roads. Encourage granny flats and accessory dwelling units.

  • Cut parking subsidies. Reduce and eliminate parking mandates which increase the cost of construction and reduce the amount of housing that can be built.

  • Get the most out of strategic development of large areas. As we consider the future of the airport, the Area III planning reserve, and CU South, be visionary with the possibilities for land use and make sure these large parcels follow a carefully-considered development plan

  • Reduce administrative burdens. Simplify planning and permitting by lowering requirements involved in the entitlements process, ensure requirements for development are clear, reasonable, and well-enforced, and pursue opportunities to remove bottlenecks identified by staff.