Denver council hits brakes on affordable housing sales tax pitched by Mayor Mike Johnston

Just days after Mayor Mike Johnston urged Denver voters to pass an affordable housing sales tax measure this November, City Council members on Wednesday questioned if the measure was ready for the ballot — and delayed its progress for at least two weeks.

Members led by Councilwoman Jamie Torres cited numerous concerns during a committee hearing Wednesday, including a lack of specificity in the proposed ordinance language. Torres said she wants to provide voters with a clearer picture of just what that 0.5% sales tax would pay for.

Johnston unveiled his proposed tax July 8, and it featured prominently in his State of the City address on Monday.

“I feel like if we’re asking voters to approve something in the range of $100 million a year, we should be able to tell them at the time that they are voting what they are voting to do,” Torres said. She emphasized that the ballot referral measure, which needs council approval to reach the ballot, does not have her vote yet.

“It isn’t just ‘Let’s send it to the voters and let them decide.’ They are already being asked to support this, and we haven’t even approved it yet.”

Torres said she was looking for assurances that the tax proceeds would be focused on creating more housing for households making 60% of the area’s median income or less. That’s $78,240 or less per year for a family of four, according to city guidelines.

Her comments followed a presentation by Jamie Rife, director of the city’s Department of Housing Stability, outlining uses the Johnston administration is eyeing for the funds. They include providing financial support to renters who are struggling to keep up with rising housing costs, providing down-payment assistance for Denverites seeking to buy homes, and increasing the city’s supply of new income-qualified housing by making city government an equity investor in new projects.

There are projects that would bring 3,500 units of new housing to the market that are stalled out in Denver because they don’t have all the financing they need, Rife said, citing as an example of a place the city could make an impact with the new funds.

Torres and the six other members of the council’s Safety, Housing, Education and Homelessness Committee voted unanimously to delay the panel’s final consideration of the tax referral until Aug. 7.