Boulder County Housing and Human Services tackles affordable housing

“The Community Foundation is truly a leader on important issues like affordable housing, and helping people understand their own role in making a difference in our community – supporting nonprofits and other organizations that are working to help people when they need it, in the ways that matter most.”

Photo above: The Boulder County Housing Summit brought together elected officials, planners, and staff from every jurisdiction in the county to discuss the Regional Housing Plan, its goal of 12% affordability by 2035, and how each city and town could help the partnership with its five strategies to achieve that goal.

“Community Foundation Boulder County has long been a partner of Boulder County Housing and Human Services,” says Jim Williams, who directs the agency’s strategic communications. “By the time I arrived in late 2011, a strong partnership between the foundation and Housing and Human Services was already in place.

“The foundation’s equity vision is aligned with our vision to strengthen our community, including addressing our community’s lack of affordable housing. At the core of the housing issue is equity – and understanding that equity is critical to healthy communities.”

Following up on the Community Foundation’s countywide listening tour that identified affordable housing as the highest priority issue, see our video interview with Frank Alexander – Housing and Human Services Director, Boulder County – that explores who we are as a community, and how stable and affordable housing has become a critical need across our county among many of our neighbors. Learn how access to housing is key to creating a community that’s equitable and inclusive for all … and what’s being done to address the burden of rising rents and growing concerns around insufficient affordable housing. Please consider supporting your Community Foundation’s equity vision with a year-end donation: commfound.org/fallappeal

Continues Jim, “The Community Foundation is truly a leader on important issues like affordable housing, and helping people understand their own role in making a difference in our community – supporting nonprofits and other organizations that are working to help people when they need it, in the ways that matter most.”

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Jim goes on to describe the work of the Boulder County Regional Housing Partnership’s Home Wanted collaboration among nine jurisdictions countywide. “Home Wanted aims to address our region’s current and ongoing need for accessible, affordable, and sustainable housing solutions,” he says. “The goal is to unite our communities to adopt strategies and policies that secure adequate funding for providing housing stability and affordability for low- and middle-income community members.

“Increasingly, people are having a hard time staying here and living in the community where they work and where their children go to school. One in six Boulder County residents spends more than half their income on housing, which means they have to cut back in other areas – like food.

“Increasingly, people are needing to drive longer and longer distances to get to their jobs, which may or may not pay enough for them to be self-sufficient. The stress of that, the health impacts on families, is what we’re trying to disrupt.”

[Learn more in the Economy & Housing section of our new TRENDS Report.]

Continues Jim, “It’s critical that the Community Foundation continues to bring visibility and leadership to this important community concern. We’re so grateful for our partnership with the foundation, and our shared quest to help everyone understand that this is the moment to act.

“Boulder County Housing and Human Services serves and supports 90K people each year, out of a population of 330K Boulder County residents. That’s a lot of people – almost one-third of us – and it speaks volumes to the need that exists here, and the work yet to be done with our community partners.

“Everyone can play a part to address affordable housing, whether donating parcels of land or any other number of ways to join the movement.”