The Department of Housing and Urban Development has handed Denver an expensive pair of scissors, in the form of a $4.5 million grant, to help it cut away the red tape that can sometimes hinder home and apartment construction in the city.

Denver was among 21 winners out of more than 175 applicants in the first round of the Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing or PRO Housing grant program.

“For every $1 in funding awarded, there was $13 requested. The City and County of Denver’s application stood out,” said Dominique Jackson, administrator of HUD’s Rocky Mountain Region during a news conference Thursday afternoon.

Other first-round winners include Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New York, Seattle and Fort Worth, Texas. Another $100 million round will be awarded later this year and the Biden administration has set aside a third round worth $100 million in next year’s budget.

The grant program’s stated intent is to provide funding to communities that are actively taking steps to address “needless local housing barriers to housing production.”

Among the barriers identified in the applications were the high cost of land and development, aging housing stock, inadequate infrastructure, displacement pressures, environmental hazards, and outdated policies when it came to land use and permitting.

Denver plans to use its award in three ways, said Manish Kumar, executive director of the Denver Department of Community Planning and Development.

The first will be to streamline the city’s regulatory process when it comes to zoning, land use and building codes. Long delays, due in part to staffing cuts made during the pandemic, have been a sore spot for many, from residents doing basic home improvements to developers building high-rise apartment towers.

“We want to get rid of bureaucracy and unnecessary red tape,” Kumar said.

The second will be to study ways to boost the supply of affordable housing options, especially for those experiencing homelessness.

The third involves creating a revolving loan fund to assist affordable housing developers, who often operate on a razor’s edge when it comes to having enough capital and can struggle when it comes to unexpected expenses.

The fund would provide loans to developers with a 20-year payback window to help cover costs for things such as environmental remediation, sewer line enhancements and traffic improvements.

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Originally Published: July 12, 2024 at 6:00 a.m.