Boulder discusses raising occupancy limit
Nearly two years after a failed ballot initiative, Boulder City Council discussed raising the residential occupancy limit at its June 15 meeting, with the goal of increasing affordable housing options.
Generally, the city’s occupancy limit allows three unrelated people to live together in low-density zoning districts (more than half of Boulder’s land area), and four in high-density zones. In a March study session, Council asked city staff to analyze the outcome of increasing the occupancy limit to four or five citywide.
In a presentation to Council, Karl Guiler, the city’s senior policy advisor, said 18% of the units in three-person zones are rentals, whereas nearly 60% of units in the four-person zones are rentals. Increasing occupancy, then, could give more people renting opportunities. He also said the potential impacts of increasing occupancy limits include on-street parking issues, and more trash and noise violations.
In a 6-3 poll vote, Council showed support for increasing the occupancy to five unrelated people throughout the city.
A survey on Be Heard Boulder, the city’s online engagement platform, showed more community support for raising the occupancy limit to four rather than five, but Guiler told Council it isn’t intended to be a “statistically valid representation.”
Councilmember Tara Winer prefers increasing the limit to four unrelated people and looking into “carving out” areas, like University Hill neighborhood, to have a lower occupancy limit.
Winer wants to “raise occupancy in other neighborhoods so more people who want to live here, who work here, can actually afford to live here,” but she believes the Hill is a different story, in part because it’s already difficult for people living in the neighborhood to find street parking.
“For us to have success in increasing occupancy, we should have the infrastructure that can handle it,” she says.
Winer admitted that making exceptions to occupancy limits in some neighborhoods would take more time and resources from staff. A citywide occupancy limit is simpler, more efficient.
Brad Mueller, the director of planning and housing services, told Council that city staff hasn’t found definitive answers as to whether increasing the housing stock through occupancy limits would drive an increase or decrease in rent.
City Council will vote on updating the ordinance on Aug. 17 following public comment.
New organization forms to help homeless
After stepping down as executive director of Feet Forward, Jennifer Livovich is starting a new homelessness advocacy nonprofit called Streetscape Peer Support Services and Outreach.
Livovich founded Feet Forward in 2020 to provide low-barrier services such as food and personal care items to people experiencing homelessness.
While details like location and partnerships are still developing, Livovich says Streetscape is centered around a “progressive peer-engagement model” that focuses on individuals experiencing homelessness and those who are transitioning into housing. Most of her Feet Forward colleagues will continue their work with Streetscape.
“We’ve got the trust and relationships critical to getting individuals experiencing homelessness, or who were [experiencing homelessness], engaged in services, including housing and wraparound peer support,” she says. “How and why would we ever go away?”
Livovich says she stepped down from Feet Forward because of its involvement in the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) lawsuit against the city of Boulder over its “blanket ban” that prevents sleeping in public spaces, despite inadequate shelter options in the city. While Livovich was one of the original plaintiffs alongside Feet Forward, she pulled out of the case as an individual at the end of February while the organization stayed involved.
“This lawsuit isn’t going to change anything for homeless people,” she says. “It’s not going to change anything for them at all. … That time, energy and resources would be much better utilized advocating for accessible recovery spaces, transitional housing, not a blanket.”
Learn more about Streetscape and its mission at streetscapeboulder.org.
Local nonprofit recognized for Marshall Fire response
Community Foundation Boulder County (CFBC) received the 2023 Secretary’s Award for Public-Philanthropic Partnerships on June 14. The award is given to foundations that “transformed the relationship between the public and philanthropic sectors” and support areas like housing, community development and disaster resilience.
“This is much bigger than us,” says Tatiana Hernandez, CEO of CFBC. “The award was for public-philanthropic partnerships. And, in the case of the foundation’s, and our community’s response to the Marshall Fire, those public-philanthropic relationships included every single municipality in Boulder County, as well as multiple state offices. It really has been a coordinated collective effort to do everything we can and could do to support residents in this community.”
Nine organizations from across the country received the award from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Council on Foundations.
More than $40 million was donated to CFBC’s Boulder County Wildfire Fund from 77,000 donors following the Marshall Fire to address the most destructive wildfire in Colorado’s history. The foundation distributed this unprecedented amount of funding (it typically distributes $10 million annually) to projects like crisis counseling, insurance policy navigation and smoke remediation.
Despite the successful distribution of millions of dollars, there was some confusion in the community through 2022 surrounding why it took so long to receive funds and how to receive funds (News, “In limbo”, Dec. 29, 2022). Now, nearly two years after the disaster, communities are still rebuilding damaged homes and infrastructure (News, “Now you know,” June 15, 2023).
The Navigating Disaster for Boulder County program, which started a year ago to help people in the county experience relief from disasters and funded in part by CFBC, has approved nearly $8.5 million to more than 350 grant rebuilding funds.
While more than half of the homes destroyed or damaged are in the rebuilding permitting process, only 4% of people have moved back into their homes.
“We still very much are working through our partners and with residents in the community who might need support with basic things like housing and transportation,” Hernandez says. “And funds are still available for people who might find themselves in financial strain right now, to make those basic ends meet.”
