Anti-Semitic propaganda found in Highlands Ranch, Castle Rock

BY MCKENNA HARFORD MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

When Terry Carhart found an antiSemitic and anti-LGBTQ yer in his Highlands Ranch yard on March 4, he was disgusted.

e yer was in a small plastic baggie weighed down with dry beans and, by Carhart’s observation, had been scattered in several yards in his neighborhood near Fox Creek Elementary School.

“I have an issue with someone who thinks that way driving around, passing out literature in my area,” Carhart, 64, said. “It’s nonsensical.” e yers Carhart found were just some of the anti-Semitic propaganda found in Front Range areas so far this month, with more yers found in the Terrain neighborhood in Castle Rock on March 7.

Carhart felt compelled to report the yers to the Douglas County Sheri ’s O ce and the Anti-Defamation League because he has Jewish neighbors and worried about the messaging leading to harm.

Castle Rock Mayor Jason Gray, whose grandfather died in a concentration camp during the Holocaust, spoke out against the messaging at the March 7 town council meeting, calling it “disheartening” and encouraging the council and town residents to speak out against it and report it.

“It’s not what Castle Rock is about,” Gray said. “ is kind of rhetoric makes my blood boil.”

A report from the Anti-Defamation League released on March 8 found that 2022 had over 6,750 instances of white supremacist propaganda reported, the highest number of instances the organization has recorded.

Scott Levin, the director for the Anti-Defamation League Mountain States Region, said Colorado had 163 instances of white supremacist propaganda last year compared to 159 in 2021.

Levin said a concern with the increasing propaganda is that it will lead to the normalization of hate, which can lead to violence.

“ e problem is that they do normalize this kind of hate and anger in a way that it might become criminal activity,” he said. “It only takes one person to react to this, think some of it may be true, and act on it.” e propaganda also serves to recruit people to white supremacist groups and helps those groups make money by connecting people to their websites and media, Levin said. e yers Carhart found in Highlands Ranch linked to a website featuring Holocaust denial and streaming an anti-Semitic lm, which the Anti-Defamation League report found is often associated with the white supremacist group White Lives Matter.

Levin said the best response to nding propaganda is to loudly rebuke it so that the messaging doesn’t become normalized. He added that reporting instances of propaganda to law enforcement and the Anti-Defamation League helps track the issue.

“Neighbors need to speak out and say ‘ is stu isn’t acceptable’ and they need to give support to those groups that are targeted,” he said.

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existing residents and not the developers who want to use our money to nancially bene t only themselves,” another read.

But there would be no need to increase local taxes solely as a result of the development, according to a county spokesperson.

And the funding the developer could receive runs through a process that di ers from what may be the usual connotation of “subsidized” housing. e bottom line appears to be that Douglas County residents need not worry about a large or even notable portion of their taxes going toward the proposed apartment complex.

Here’s an examination of concerns about funding — and a look at worries about property values and crime, two other topics residents often raised regarding the development.

Not a local tax grab e Pinery, a relatively remote set of neighborhoods along a major state highway, consists largely of single-family homes. e Low-Income Housing Tax Credit was created by President Ronald Reagan and Congress in the Tax Reform Act of 1986, designed to encourage private sector investment in the new construction, acquisition and rehabilitation of rental housing a ordable to low-income households, according to the National e Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program “is not funded by local or federal appropriations,” said Jerilynn Francis, spokesperson for the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority. ere is no government entity that would need to consider raising tax rates on Douglas County residents as a result of an apartment complex like this being built with LowIncome Housing Tax Credit funding, Francis con rmed.

Douglas County’s elected leaders recently allowed a development to move forward that would put about 200 housing units just south of the Town of Parker near state Highway 83.

Residents of e Pinery, an area that sits between Parker and Castle Rock’s northeast edge, have argued the proposed development does not meet the county’s approval requirements and that it is “incompatible with the existing character” of the area.

Ulysses Development Group, the company behind the proposal, will be applying for an allocation of federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit in connection with the development, according to Connor Larr, a partner at the company.

“It is a federal tax credit. Not a Douglas County tax credit,” Larr wrote in a statement.

Council of State Housing Agencies.

As a tax credit, it’s technically not funded by tax revenue. A credit is somewhat similar to a tax deduction: It can lower an individual’s or business’ tax bill and results in a person paying less in taxes. e government takes in less revenue than it would without the tax credit, but taxpayers aren’t technically funding an individual tax credit.

Based on how the county rezoned the land, if a developer builds any “multifamily” residences — such as apartments — they will have to comply with certain rules about the income of their tenants, said Wendy Holmes, Douglas County spokesperson.

A development “would be entitled to any incentives the state or federal authorities o er for that type of construction,” Holmes said. “ e county o ers no such incentives.”

How the tax credit stacks

up

Another complication: Investors are involved, and the exact value of the tax credit can be di cult to pin down.

“ e developer will recoup 9% of the development cost every year for 10 years. at’s a full 90%,” one comment to the county claimed.

But that’s much higher than the amount turns out to be. ere are two types of federal housing tax credits: the 9% credit and the 4% credit, according to the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority.

Credits are redeemable every year for 10 years and calculated as 4% or 9% of the project’s “quali ed basis,” a gure calculated from the gross construction costs of the project’s a ordable units. at’s according to the conservative-leaning Tax Foundation, a tax policy nonpro t.

“Interestingly, the 4 percent and 9 percent credits rarely end up being precisely 4 and 9 percent each year but a 10-year stream of credits equal to 30 percent and 70 percent of the quali ed basis,” the nonpro t says on its website. “As interest rates uctuate with the economy, the yearly value of the tax credits uctuates around 4 percent and 9 percent.”

Ulysses is anticipating utilizing the

4% tax credit, Larr said.

“It should be understood that the tax credits are sold to investors who purchase the tax credits. e proceeds of that sale are used as equity (or funding) in the development” of the property, Larr said.

Larr added: “Given the market factors and unknowns regarding future LIHTC pricing, along with uncertainty with respect to how much of our total development cost will be (eligible), it is impossible to say if the LIHTC equity contributed to the project will equal 30% of the total development cost.”

Unlike direct subsidies, the tax credits are received over time based on performance, according to the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority, often called CHFA.

“Investors do not receive their tax credits unless the housing is suitable for occupancy and is rented to households with low-income at restricted rents during the initial 15year term,” CHFA’s fact sheet says.

Who could live there e proposal documents label the apartment complex as “workforce housing units,” a term that can vary depending on who is using it. e income limit could end up being even higher for some units.

Units would generally be available to individuals and families making no greater than 60% of the area’s median income, as that gure is calculated annually by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to a Sept. 16 letter from the developer’s team to county sta .

As of April 2022, local households making no greater than 60% of the AMI, and thus eligible for a unit, typically earn between $40,000 to $80,000 per year, the letter says.

“Households with incomes in this range may include employees of Douglas County government, Douglas County School District, local businesses … and critical services, including the Parker Adventist Hospital system and other emergency and essential service organizations,” the letter says.

“As we have presented in our public meetings, we are anticipating providing a 100% income-restricted property to bene t Douglas County. Based on federal guidance we anticipate a range of AMI set asides up to 80% AMI at the maximum,” Larr said.