PRICES

again, this time for making just $300 more than the cut-o . But, a slow month at work turned out to be a good thing. His income dipped just enough that by the third time he applied he made it on the waitlist. at did not come with the guarantee of a home. Laney was in a line of people just like him and demand far outweighed supply. Number 10 was his position. Who knew how many more were behind him, he thought. en it happened. Laney was made an o er, a 1,275-square-foot detached home near Ketring Park in rst-year Democrat, and Democratic state Sen. Robert Rodriguez.

“ is is not just a Denver problem, and so this is why I have cosponsors on this bill from the Western Slope and Colorado Springs and places Democrats haven’t won election in decades,” Mabrey said.

Currently, Colorado’s local governments are not allowed to pass laws that limit the cost of rent in privately owned housing. If the bill eventually passes, individual city councils would be allowed to pass rent control or rent stabilization laws.

In Colorado and 31 other states, rent control is banned

Rent control laws already exist in some of the nation’s most populous central Littleton valued at $285,000, roughly a third of what similar properties sold for.

“I can’t even express how happy I was,” Laney said. “I’ve been living and serving this community for 10 years and I want to live here.”

Still, the program has some drawbacks compared to traditional homeownership. Laney cannot build as much equity as many of his neighbors because he does not own the property the home sits on. Instead, it is owned by something called a land trust — a collection of entities.

“ e beauty of the land trust is it removes the cost of the land from the equation from the cost of the home,” said Kate Hilberg, director of real estate development for Habitat for Hu-

— and expensive — cities, including New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Under those policies, the local government generally dictates that rents in certain buildings can increase by only a certain percentage per year. Colorado is one of 32 states that currently prevent local governments from controlling rents, according to the National Multifamily Housing Coalition.

State lawmakers banned rent control in 1981, after an e ort to implement rent control in Boulder, according to a University of Colorado Law Review article.

Rent control is the subject of intense debate, with many economists arguing that the limits drive land- manity. “It allows the homeowners to pay on that mortgage for that home and improvements to that home but not the land.”

Land trusts are crucial tools organizations like Habitat use to lock in the a ordability of homes even as property values rise elsewhere. e owners of these units will see some equity from their homes, Hilberg said, about 2% each year. But it won’t be enough to match the likes of homeowners who have used their growing property values to build decades of generational wealth.

“A lot of families use this as a starter home option and they do gain enough equity and stability to turn that into a down payment on a home in the open market,” Hilberg said of homes under lords out of the market and disrupt the housing supply, while supporters point to the direct bene ts to renters who have faced astronomical cost increases, as well as the way that rising costs can destroy the social fabric of a neighborhood.

However, Polis is no fan of rent control, and some fear it can scare o developers

Even if it passes the legislature, the legislation would likely have to get support from Gov. Jared Polis, who has the power to veto bills.

Polis has not been supportive of rent control, previously forcing lawmakers to dump the idea of limiting land trusts.

But fathoming a concept like equity is a luxury for those who still can’t buy a house on the market, Laney said.

While he’s thankful for what Habitat did for him, he fears the few dozen homes it manages in Littleton can only go so far to meet the demand of hundreds, if not thousands, of residents who have struggled as he has.

“ ere isn’t enough income-based housing for people … the people who live and work in this community can’t a ord a house,” Laney said. “We can’t all win the lottery.”

Colorado Community Reporters Andrew Fraieli, Steve Smith, Tayler Shaw and Ellis Arnold contributed reporting to this story.

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Sunday School & Bible Study: 11-12 500 Drake Street Denver, Colorado 80221 303-429-0165 rent at mobile home communities. Generally, Polis has pushed for a “supplyside” or market-based approach that focuses on building new housing.

In a statement, Polis’ o ce said he was “skeptical that rent control will create more housing stock, and locations with these policies often have the unintended consequences of higher rent.” e statement underlined that the “rent is too damned high” and added that the administration is “always open to seeing speci c proposals and letting legislators know if they have any concern.” e statement also pointed to the state’s recent “historic investments” in housing. is year, Democrats have larger majorities in both the Senate and House, and Mabrey argued that rising prices will put more pressure on politicians to act.

Drew Hamrick, a vice president for the Apartment Association of Metro Denver, similarly warned that rent control would scare o new construction and landlords.

“Colorado’s prohibition against local governments enacting rent control ordinances for more than 50 years is both a recognition of the damage rent control can do to available housing and also an understanding that one local government’s housing policy negatively impacts neighboring communities,” Hamrick wrote.

Rent control has come up several times at the state legislature Mabrey, who helped found an organization to help tenants ght eviction, said he’d already heard from elected o cials in large cities on the Front Range and beyond who want to implement rent control.

Rent control has come up several times at the legislature in recent years. In 2019, state Sen. Rodriguez was a co-sponsor of a similar measure to allow local rent control and stabilization. at bill did not make it out of the Senate, though Democrats already controlled both chambers.

In 2021, lawmakers moved to give cities limited power over rent prices, although only in new construction. A law passed that year autho- rizes cities to require designated a ordable units in new builds, as long as they o er other options to developers too. is story is from CPR News, a nonpro t news source. Used by permission. For more, and to support Colorado Public Radio, visit cpr.org.