Boulder Continues its Community Discussion on a Comprehensive Housing Strategy

Doors: 5:30pm
Forum Begin: 6:00pm
Forum End: 8:00pm

The City of Boulder is beginning the first phase of an enhanced community engagement process known as Housing Boulder. This effort will inform the development of a comprehensive housing strategy that defines community priorities for creating and preserving diverse, affordable housing choices. Since spring 2013, city staff has worked with the community and City Council to understand current housing conditions and challenges, and to start identifying specific tools to address those challenges in a manner consistent with the community’s values.

Through a multi-method community engagement process, the city will be asking community members to share their ideas for additional tools and then help determine the combination of tools most likely to accomplish the Housing Boulder goals.

Through January 2015, the first phase of Housing Boulder will include both in-person and virtual opportunities to participate, including the Inspire Boulder digital town hall, a “Boulder Housing 101” webinar, formation of five working groups, and the Why Housing Matters! community symposium at eTown Hall. Community members are encouraged to review the project information and goals available at www.HousingBoulder.net, and sign up for the “Housing Boulder” email list via the website.

The five working groups, each focused on one of the Housing Boulder goals, will explore a range of solutions to Boulder’s housing challenges. These working groups are each comprised of 10 to 12 diverse community members and will be charged with evaluating the tools in the Toolkit of Housing Options, suggesting new tools, and identifying the most promising tools for community consideration. The working group members were selected to provide demographic, geographic, and professional diversity, with preference given to people that have experience related to a Housing Boulder goal and a demonstrated ability to seek collaborative solutions in a group setting.

The Why Housing Matters! community symposium will kick off the next phase of community involvement with Housing Boulder. The event includes Boulder’s current housing successes and challenges, provides inspiration from speakers who will discuss innovative tools being used by other cities, and a community dialog around creative problem solving.

City Council is invited to participate in the Jan. 26 symposium. A study session in April 2015 will provide an opportunity to discuss next steps for the comprehensive housing strategy and community engagement process.