opinion
From where I stand, we ought to build as much affordable and higher-density housing at the Hughes Stadium site and elsewhere in Fort Collins as the available land will allow.
Why? I think of my cousin, a bright and gifted educator raised in Michigan. He took a job teaching middle school science in the Denver area a few years back. He cared passionately about his students, he loved his job, and he loved living in our fine state.
Today, he resides and teaches in Cadillac, Michigan. Why? He’s a smart guy, and he realized that a teacher’s salary would never enable him to buy a home and start a family in Denver. But it can in Cadillac.
Fort Collins may already be over the precipice of affordability for talented young public servants who might consider building a life here, but we can do better. We can start by encouraging our City Council to support a development plan for the Hughes Stadium site that includes a reasonable number of higher-density housing units.
These units will naturally hit the market below the median home price in the city, giving a few more folks the opportunity to take ownership and set down roots in Fort Collins. On the other hand, restricting housing development is a recipe for a stagnant community dying countless slow deaths caused by a lack of well-educated young workers and their incumbent innovation and dynamism.
Hughes options: Fort Collins eyes housing partnership
Moreover, I wager many folks who cry “not in my backyard” to more housing development consider themselves to be people who care about protecting the environment. If people working in education and public service can’t afford to build a life and own a home in the community they serve, where will they live? Miles from the center of the city in more affordable outlying communities of course.
Is it OK to build more housing on open space in Wellington, but not Fort Collins? If so, why? What’s the difference, other than the ZIP code of the person opposing development?
We know that commuting by car has significant climate impacts. When we effectively bar our doors to the young and the less well-off, we exacerbate inequalities in education and quality of life, while ignoring the climate impacts of increasing suburbanization.
I own a home in west Fort Collins. I know there would be more traffic on the streets I use if higher-density affordable housing is constructed at the Hughes site. I know that my own home’s value would rise higher if we jealously and artificially restrict the housing supply.
Opinion: Hughes property shouldn't be another subdivision
Yet I’d rather live in a city where everyone whose labor makes my life in Fort Collins so great has a chance to own a part of it for themselves. That sure beats hoarding our remarkable town for the wealthy and those who were lucky enough to get here a few decades ago when things were cheaper.
When everyone working in Fort Collins can also invest in making Fort Collins their home, we prosper and thrive together.
Matthew P. Hitt lives in Fort Collins.
"Opinion" - Google News
August 03, 2020 at 08:00PM
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Opinion: Fort Collins needs affordable housing to attract young professionals - Coloradoan
"Opinion" - Google News
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