The Current Housing Problem in Boulder, Colorado and How To Fix It.
Within a beautiful backdrop of the Rocky Mountains, Boulder, Colorado, is known for its perfect balance of outdoors and urban community. It holds the largest university in Colorado, the University of Colorado Boulder, with an undergraduate population of 39,000 and growing. Boulder has always been celebrated as an outdoor city that embraced sports such as skiing, rocky climbing, and hiking, activities that can be done year-round. In the shadow of the rocky mountains, we can see that Boulder is going through the consequences of any flourishing city as it has become one of the most desirable places to live in the United States. There is currently a housing crisis within this 27-square-mile city, and every resident feels the pain that comes with it. As current transformations are happening within the city, finding housing for the people who call Boulder home is becoming increasingly more difficult. By addressing this housing crisis with solutions to make it more affordable, we can level its impact on the community.
Looking at Boulder, we can see that there has been so much economic growth in the past decades while the population has increased. From the year 2010 to the year 2023, there has been an increase of 9,000 in the total population. It may not seem that much, but In a city of 106,000, it leaves an ever-lasting impact on the city overall. Below, the visualization displays the population increase over the years, from 2010 to 2023. The data visual also illustrates a line of best fit, which will best predict the following years while also showing the average running growth. The yellowing, having such a steep increase, can only show us that the population is set to increase in the coming years. The reason why there has been a slight decrease in the population in the past few years is that the housing problem has become too bad in Boulder; people have to move out to surrounding cities such as Westminster or Superior.
An increase in population often exacerbates the housing problem as this creates an imbalance between the supply and demand of these accommodations. As the Boulder population increases, there will be such a large demand for housing, creating competition, almost a bidding war, but the available units. The national average for a two-bedroom apartment is about $1,343 per month, but when we compare it to Boulder’s average of $2498, we can see that this is almost twice the national average in the United States. Simultaneously, this increase in population growth can cause a further problem of housing availability, as it can outpace the construction of housing, causing an even greater scarcity of available homes. As a consequence, many people find themselves unable to afford housing, either from the lack of appropriate units or the prices being way out of reach for the average person. This is one of the many reasons for this current housing crisis in Boulder, Colorado.
Boulder, Colorado, is not only the most expensive city in Colorado but also one of the most expensive in the United States. There are many ways to calculate how expensive a city is, but the best way to figure it out is to answer the following questions: How much money do I make? How much money does it cost to live in this particular city? There are some cities in Colorado where the median income is in the six figures, but when we compare it to the average price spent on housing, we can tell which city is the most expensive to live in. The following graph shows the median home price to median income in each city in Colorado. The lower the rating, the less expensive the city is to live in; the higher the rating, the more expensive it is.
We can show that Boulder comes in as number 1, with a score of 10.5, at the top of the list of the most expensive cities in Colorado. When a state becomes this expensive, it causes several housing challenges. The strain when the income in a city cannot be stabilized in connection with the overall price of living in one state forces people to have a financial strain on themselves. With a large community of college students who usually do not have income outside of part-time work or parental support, this leads to many students being unable to afford rent. When you have made up such a large demographic of students, this leads to unsafe conditions for people who find it necessary to live here, as they are forced to choose between paying rent or buying necessary things to live, such as food, tuition, and basic supplies.
Although there is a lack of housing availability in Boulder, we have yet to see a decrease in the overall buying of homes. Since 1978, we have had an exponential growth of housing transactions in the city. From a city that consists of many college students and faculty while also having many locals from Colorado who have been here for generations, it has become a hub for luxury homes. The following visual shows the number of transactions per quarter of the year from 1978 to the present day. We can see that it has not slowed down a bit, only during the COVID 2020 pandemic that has affected the global economy. Even so, it has only decreased to an insufficient amount and bounced back to increasing exponentially.
To make it short, the rich are buying up the housing, and the regular citizens feel the consequences in Colorado’s most expensive city. When this influx of wealthy buyers enters the market and purchases these properties, it has an everlasting effect on the city’s residents. This significant demand inflates the overall housing market, making the middle class unable to afford a home in a city they have lived in their whole life. This makes purchasing a home out of reach, creates even more demand in the renting market, and increases prices. Moreover, when there is a skew in diversity in the overall population regarding income, local businesses start catering to a whole different type of demographic, leading to increases in the prices of food, shopping, and other necessities. This hinders the city’s overall character as it only serves a minority of the population, with only the top one percent buying the properties.
The city of Boulder’s strategy to fix the housing crisis has been inadequate. In the past, there has been an approach to making Boulder housing more affordable. This included having homes and apartments only available to people who make a specific income, which closes the door for people who make above a certain amount to move in. It may provide relief for those within the specified income range but fails to accommodate the more extensive spectrum of people facing housing challenges. This one-size-fits-all approach neglects the other circumstances that come with Boulder’s housing crisis. Because the data I presented above related to the wealthy buying properties, we see the overall impact on the cost of living around the area. In short, it does not matter if you try to solve the problem of having the people who can afford housing take up properties; this crisis will not be solved until we solve the root issue.
A step the city of Boulder can consider is the introduction of zoning reforms. This process includes many steps that could be taken, including eliminating single-family-only zoning, abolishing parking minimums, and zoning for adaptive reuse. To be able to build more dense housing, boulders need to make more room. There is a large part of Boulder that is zoned for single-family houses. Expanding these zones would allow developers to create complexes that could house an occupancy of 15–20 rather than one family. This will call for a policy for more productive land use, causing the housing to be more of a supply for the people of Boulder. This also helps the issue of people buying homes in Boulder, as there are different and more complicated laws when purchasing duplexes. Another aspect of zoning reform could be the abolishment of parking minimums. This is the idea of mandating parking spots, which robs developers of leasable lands on which we could build property. Boulder already has one of the most bike-friendly infrastructures in the United States, so there is no need for this parking zoning in Boulder. This allows for the construction of more housing units across the city. The last step that could be taken in this reform is the increase of zoning for adaptive reuse. This is the idea of using already existing constructs and transforming them into new housing to be used. The best example is how New York City remade Chelsea, an old hotel, and transformed into a lively neighborhood. We could take older infrastructures, such as warehouses and commercial spaces, and turn them into new housing for the city. Zoning reform can be the most significant step in solving the root problem in the Boulder Housing crisis we are currently facing in 2023.
Our beautiful city of Boulder, Colorado, is facing a problem that could impact the city’s people for generations if we do not take action. Looking at the overall population growth, increase in expenses, and the buying up of properties for the wealthy are the main issues we face through this housing market crisis. Zoning reform could have a significant impact as it will create more space for duplexes to be developed while limiting the ability of the wealthy to purchase all the property in Boulder. The future near the rocky mountains would then feel bright.
