LOCAL NEWS drug addicts that lower their tax income and property values,” Jarrett said. CMHRA is working on developing a pilot program that will place mobile home residents in stable affordable housing. In partnership with local food banks and other service organizations, Jarrett thinks the program can help lower someone’s cost of living to around $700 a month or less, depending on the family size and size of the home. Until that day arrives, Jarrett hopes local leaders focus on helping people keep the homes they’re in until the pandemic ends. Otherwise, the state could see a drastic increase in poverty and homelessness. “COVID-19 distracted everyone from the lesser epidemic, the national housing crisis, which is really going to go crazy when the moratoriums on evictions eventually expire,” he said. ■ ZONING’S IMPACT ON HOMELESSNESS IN DENVER BY ROBERT DAVIS zoning classification and was used primarily in neighborhoods like Cherry Creek, Washington Park, and Hilltop. This new group is known as Former Chapter 59. Today, 20 percent of Denver’s land is zoned as Former Chapter 59, according to estimates by Community Planning and Development (CPD). In 2015, Denver’s auditor conducted a performance audit of CPD’s administration of both codes. He found they hampered the agency’s ability to produce equitable re-zonings, even though the code is intended to promote the “health, safety, morals, or general welfare” of city neighborhoods. Denver also places limits on who can be considered a household or a family, thereby restricting who can buy homes in certain areas of town. Under the 1925 code, dwellings were limited to one household which consisted of “any number of individuals, depending on the type of unit, sharing one kitchen.” This definition could allow multiple generations or different families to live together under one roof. In 1956, Denver’s zoning code further restricted households to just “families,” or “any number of persons immediately related by blood, marriage or adoption.” City Council also added new zoning classifications and increased restrictions to keep certain dwelling types out of the city. For example, rooming houses and basement apartments were prohibited under the R-0 residential classification, the City’s most restrictive form of residential zoning. These dwelling units were primarily rented by Blacks, immigrants, and poor whites. MAP COURTESY OF DENVER PUBLIC LIBRARY’S WESTERN HISTORY COLLECTION. LAST DECEMBER MARKED THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY of the first comprehensive zoning codes in the U.S. Passed in Baltimore, Md., on December 17, 1910, The Baltimore Sun hailed the law as “probably the most remarkable ordinances ever entered upon the records of a town or city in this country.” At the time, limited zoning ordinances had been on the books for two decades. Washington D.C. enacted height requirements in 1899. Los Angeles later adopted the first “use” zoning ordinances to separate residential and industrial developments in 1908. But, the deliberate targeting of Black and immigrant communities by Baltimore’s ordinances was unique to the times. While the practice of overt racial segregation in housing was outlawed six years later by the Supreme Court in Buchanon v. Warley (1917), racially motivated zoning continues to impact communities of color, the impoverished, and people experiencing homelessness to this day. ZONING IN DENVER Denver’s form-based zoning code, restrictions on what qualifies as a “family,” and deference to residential development all are regulatory burdens on the city’s ability to help its poor and unhoused. The City adopted form-based zoning in 2010 after emerging from the 2007 housing crash nearly unscathed. Form-based zoning does not consider a building within the context of a city, only its built form. It also nullifies the ability of city councilors to reject a project for political reasons. Applications that meet the requirements outlined in the zoning code are approved, no matter the consequences. A component of the City’s new zoning code was that properties previously zoned as R-0 in Denver’s 1956 code were exempt from the new provisions. R-0 was the most restrictive HOMELESSNESS AND GROUP LIVING CPD’s latest overhaul to Denver’s zoning code is up for a vote by City Council on February 8. Known as the Group Living Text Amendment, it would expand the definition of “family” to include four unrelated adults and allow community corrections and residential care facilities to be developed in single-family neighborhoods. Under current zoning guidelines, homeless shelters and other residential care units can only be built in industrial areas along I-70 and some areas of southwest Denver. This amounts to about 1,200 parcels citywide, CPD estimates. The Group Living proposal would increase the number of available parcels to approximately 19,000 by “allow[ing] these uses on commercial corridors around the city, where there are structures that could accommodate them and access to transit, jobs, and daily needs,” according to the proposal. While the group living proposal is a big step forward for equity in Denver’s city planning, it does not address more burdensome aspects of the zoning code that impact homelessness. For starters, the amendment doesn’t address the review criteria city officials are expected to adhere to. For homeless shelters, officials must consider whether a proposed development would “substantially or permanently injure the appropriate use of conforming residential properties located within 500 feet of the proposed use.” Furthermore, shelters are limited to 200 beds and are not permitted near many residential and mixed-use zone districts. Buildings must also be able to provide commercial parking. Other use restrictions apply depending on what kind of entity operates the shelter. Like other aspects of law, zoning codes are malleable to public sentiment. According to CPD’s website, some of the primary concerns property owners raised about the prospect of a homeless shelter operating in their neighborhood include the “spacing, density, and size” and “unintended consequences” of homeless shelters. So while lawmakers spar with residents about the amendment’s impacts on residential properties, thousands of unhoused Denverites eagerly await the day fighting in their name is as noble a venture. ■ NEW ITEMS NEEDED: Socks Bottled water, non-perishable snacks Hand-warmers, toothpaste, deodorant, chapstick Paper products for the office GENTLY USED ITEMS NEEDED: Refurbished laptops or desktop computers Heavy jackets Scarves Winter hats Gloves Backpacks Winter WISH LIST DENVERVOICE.ORG/VENDOR-NEEDS Drop-offs are accepted Mon, Weds, Fri., 9 a.m. – 12 p.m., or schedule a drop-off by emailing program@denvervoice.org. February 2021 DENVER VOICE 5
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