Lakewood adopts more expensive construction to boost housing affordability

Lakewood, a city in Jefferson County, Colorado, and a neighbor of Denver, has approved the development of larger additional dwelling units (ADUs), reaching up to 1,400 square feet, in order to increase housing affordability in the city. These ADUs are separate apartments that can be rented on the main property, meaning properties that can host an additional housing unit. Councilman Stewart was the one who pushed this project to explore increasing the use of ADUs in Lakewood more than a year before it was approved in recent days.

The main obstacles to carrying out this affordable housing project are single-family zoning (R1 versus R2) and infrastructure costs. But to achieve these changes, Lakewood has transformed single-family zoning into two-family zoning, allowing many large homes to develop smaller ones.

Research by the Planning Commission indicates that the second obstacle to this project is that many people refrain from building an ADU due to the additional costs of water and sewer infrastructure. Therefore, Planning Commissioner Kolkmeier proposed doubling the allowed size of ADUs from 700 square feet to 1,400 square feet, thus reducing the percentage of infrastructure costs but increasing overall expenses, prioritizing affordability.

Councilmembers Stewart and Shahrezaei, who are among the supporters of ADUs, seemed to agree that those who invested in building ADUs would be willing to rent the unit at market prices or below to family members or close people.

However, others, like Councilmembers Nystrom and Olver, questioned whether these units would attract investors, prompting Councilmember Nystrom to call for other alternatives to be studied that would provide more opportunities for citizens to become homeowners. Meanwhile, Councilmember Olver believes that increasing supply will not reduce housing prices in a desirable area like Lakewood, a very valid point since Lakewood has an oversupply of homes, but their costs remain high.

Kolkmeier, the chairman of the Planning Commission, explained that although these revisions might not boost ADU construction, they will serve to bring families back and possibly schools, although he did not explain how, given his belief in the limited effectiveness of the changes.

Councilmember Sinks pointed out that these revisions seem like an alternative solution to property subdivision. A property with two houses would be significantly more expensive to sell; and if these changes manage to increase ADUs, the council members who supported the project will be responsible for the increase in property prices.

The second problem of the project, high infrastructure costs, was widely debated during the Planning Commission and Council meetings. Infrastructure fees are beyond the city’s control as they are set by individual water districts. But instead of acknowledging this, Planning Commission President Kolkmeier and Councilmember Roger Low sought the help of State Representative Chris DeGruy-Kennedy to amend state law, aiming to limit a district’s ability to set infrastructure costs, but this proposal was widely defeated.

Councilmember Jacob LaBure addressed the issue of these problematic costs and suggested a housing fund for the city to cover residents’ infrastructure expenses, an idea that had already been discussed previously during Strategic Housing meetings.

Available Foreclosures: 

Lakewood: 15 homes available 

Denver: 25 homes available 

Aurora: 10 homes available

By Elías DaSilva | 11 de Noviembre de 2024.