Gov. Polis recognizes Grand Junction for affordable housing progress

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KJCT) -Gov. Jared Polis visited Grand Junction on Monday to recognize the city’s progress in affordable housing development.

“This is really a statewide issue. We need housing that people can afford to live in Western Colorado and Southern Colorado and the Denver metro area and Northern Colorado, you name it,” Polis said.

In 2022, Colorado voters approved Proposition 123, which authorized the state to keep some existing tax revenue to support affordable housing.

“Grand Junction has a great quality of life. People are moving here. It’s driving up prices. So we’ve got to have more homes that people can afford to live in for the community to stay strong and affordable,” Polis said.

Grand Junction is the largest jurisdiction in the state to meet requirements for units and fast track permitting. This means the city will continue to have access to funds from the proposition.

“We’ve seen almost $30 million of investment here in the Grand Junction and Mesa County area because of the Prop 123 dollars. We’re very excited to be part of the city and part of kind of dispatching and helping bring those dollars to our housing community here locally,” said Tamra Allen, community development director for the city of Grand Junction.

New units coming to Grand Junction Under the proposition, 374 more affordable homes are coming to Grand Junction. This includes The Current, a 54-unit affordable housing community made possible by the funding.

“A portion of these, the 54 here with the current, is actually new construction. The rest of them have been actually preservation, so really significant reinvestments in things like rehabilitation, new roofs, that type of thing, into product they already have,” Allen said.

The new living spaces have come through efforts of multiple organizations in the area. The city invested over $11 million and the Grand Junction Housing Authority accounted for nearly 70 percent of the units, alongside contributions from other local partners.

“Our vision is that no more than 30% of someone’s income should be spent on rent so that people can have a life and a quality of life. And there are thousands of households in Mesa County that don’t enjoy that. So this is one small step toward that vision,” said Scott Aker, CEO of the Grand Junction Housing Authority.

Some of the units already have people living in them. Others are under construction and will open depending on their development schedule.

The deadline for cities and counties to meet the Proposition 123 requirements is the end of this year. Governments across Colorado have filed commitments for a proposed total increase of almost 23,000 affordable housing units for the first three-year cycle.

Gov. Polis recognizes Grand Junction for affordable housing progress

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