AURORA — As housing costs continue to climb across metro Denver, Elevation Community Land Trust and the City of Aurora announce their partnership to help address Aurora’s growing housing affordability challenges. The partnership will create permanently affordable homeownership opportunities over the next five years for at least 50 Aurora families living at or below 80 percent of Area Median Income, equating to a household of four earning no more than $74,240 annually.
Elevation CLT was established in 2017 as a public-private intervention to Colorado’s housing affordability crisis that relies on capital subsidies and resources from a mix of sources, including the public, private and philanthropic sectors. On May 20, the City of Aurora became Elevation CLT’s first municipal partner when Aurora City Council approved a Memorandum of Understanding with Elevation CLT. The partnership will allow Elevation CLT to acquire and remodel homes that can be purchased by qualifying Aurora residents. In addition to this, the partnership enables contributions from the City of Aurora to leverage at least an equal amount of funding from Elevation CLT, and it ensures that this one-time investment results in a home that is permanently affordable for generations to come.
“We are thrilled that the City of Aurora sees value in creating permanently affordable housing for its residents, and we are excited to begin working alongside them as our first municipal partner,” said Stefka Fanchi, president & CEO of Elevation CLT. “Through this partnership, we will put homeownership within reach for more families and help create healthy, stable, inclusive neighborhoods in Aurora for today and tomorrow, so that our families can earn the equity and opportunity that ownership provides.”
Rather than being concentrated in a single neighborhood, Elevation CLT uses a “scattered site model” that has the flexibility to scale to any community at risk of gentrification and displacement.Elevation CLT’s currently planned developments in Aurora include a mix of single-family homes, condominiums and townhomes in the northwest part of the city that are both renovated properties and new construction, and Elevation CLT will work with the City of Aurora to identify opportunities to acquire or build homes in neighborhoods with the greatest need.
“This partnership is a great tool in Aurora’s efforts to make sure we continue to focus on affordable homeownership opportunities for everyone living in our city,” Aurora Mayor Bob LeGare said. “We are excited to see how the land-trust model can be a benefit to the city and the region, and can help people achieve their dream of homeownership.”
Over the next four years, Elevation CLT is poised to create homeownership opportunities for more than 700 Colorado families. In addition to partnering with the City of Aurora, Elevation CLT anticipates announcing municipal partnerships with the City of Denver, the City of Fort Collins, Boulder County and the City of Loveland in the near future.
Photo courtesy of Elevation CLT
