City of Aurora officials this week reported progress advancing they city’s housing strategy, putting forth recommendations for enhancing the city’s stock of affordable housing and getting additional funding through Proposition 123.

Aurora adopted its housing strategy in 2020, which identified gaps in affordable housing and laid out a plan to improve affordability.

At the time, city officials presented data showing the city short about 7,500 affordable rental units for households earning under $25,000 a year and 12,000 families below half of the Area Median Income (AMI).

Based on that data, they set 11 goals for housing strategy and have updated council annually, providing recommendations Thursday in a Housing, Neighborhood Services and Redevelopment Policy Committee meeting.

Alicia Montoya, the housing and community development manager for the city, said Aurora made significant strides towards achieving those goals in 2023.

Notably, it saw six ground breakings and grand openings of housing developments last year, started an Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program, and created a three-phased annual review process to ensure quality and safety of affordable housing units.

Through the Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program — which began in 2023 to help homeowners hurt financially by the COVID-19 pandemic keep their homes — they have distributed almost $800,000 to 102 people.

They also saw more than 200 attendees at their first-time homebuyer education programs, Montoya said.

To assist affordable housing developers in the city, Montoya’s team created a handbook for developers to have a better idea of what is expected of them when they agree to develop affordable housing in Aurora. 

Aurora was also one of the first cities to “really commit” to Proposition 123 in 2023, Montoya said. The proposition, approved by Colorado voters in 2022, creates funding for jurisdictions and organizations who have committed to increasing their affordable housing stock.

In 2023, the city got money through the proposition’s land banking program for two projects, which added up to over 300 affordable housing units, and through the modular and factory built finance program for 316 units. There are other applications out under Proposition 123 for the city that they have waiting to hear back about, Montoya said.

In total, Aurora spent about $38.4 million in 2023, funding for which came from Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), private activity bonds and ARPA dollars.

The team also initiated a study to figure out how else it can fund the city’s ambitious affordable housing goals, coming up with a list of recommendations going into the next year. 

Members identified several sites to create affordable housing, including a land banking parcel they sent out a request for proposal for in late 2023, recommending the city use that land for affordable development.

Another recommendation was for the City Council to adopt an ordinance requiring 10% of new units going onto the market need to be affordable to owners who are at or below 80% of the AMI.

The city of Denver passed a similar ordinance in 2022, requiring developers of multifamily housing to create 8% of a project’s units priced to serve those who fall into the 60% of area median income for apartments and 80% of AMI for ownership units. Developers may also chose to pay a fee to the city’s Mandatory Affordable Housing Fee-In-Lieu of creating affordable units.

Their third and fourth recommendations were to have impact fees, one on residential development and another for commercial development. The fee on residential development would be $3 per square foot and the commercial would be $3 per square foot for retail and $1 per square foot for warehouse development. 

As more and more people come into Aurora, the growth puts stress on businesses and residents already in the city. The impact fees would help offset this to retain businesses and residents, creating new revenue for affordable housing, according to Montoya.

Finally, they recommended a voter-approved affordable housing bond to create more affordable units that would be paid off later with a property or sales tax, Montoya said.