From old couches and mattresses to baby gear, paint and contact lenses, these Colorado organizations want your old stuff to help the planet, consumers and an underused workforce.
Habitat for Humanity
Desperate for affordable homes, teachers in Colorado’s high country turn to Habitat for Humanity
GYPSUM — Brenda Saucedo has lived in Eagle County all her life, but with housing prices that have become out of reach and a daughter to care for, the place she considers home once left her homeless. Three years ago, Saucedo, of Gypsum, turned to a shelter while figuring out how to piece together a […]
What’s Working: Women in construction — where gender pay equity is 94.3%
Here’s a shocker: Only 11% of construction workers are women. OK, maybe that’s not really much of a shocker. It’s been a male-dominated industry for … ever. Maybe the shocker is that the share of women in construction has grown since 2018, when the rate was at 9.9% though it’s hovered between 9% to 10% […]
Opinion: Use Colorado’s federal stimulus funds to build more affordable homes
Homeownership transforms families and communities. The stability and financial security provided by an affordable, safe home is a proven launching pad for homeowners and their families to realize their full potential, achieve greater levels of success, and build intergenerational wealth. Lack of access to homeownership is a root cause of inequity: the typical white family […]
Broomfield house for aged-out foster kids is a model for solving Colorado’s youth homelessness crisis
BROOMFIELD — The community room has a fresh coat of cheery, teal paint and the kitchens in each of the eight studio apartments have new cabinets in a trendy shade of gray. Anchor House, a community project years in the making, is ready for its tenants, who will begin moving in next month. The young […]
Opinion: A concrete way to build affordable, resilient, energy-efficient homes in Colorado’s wildfire zones
As of February, America’s home-insecure population has eclipsed an estimated 2 million individuals. With an economy reeling from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and, as The Colorado Sun recently reported, a staggering increase in the price of lumber, the need for affordable and safe housing in America is as urgent as it has ever […]
Housing in Boulder County — and across Colorado — is expensive. But affordable homes are more than a fantasy.
Even with myriad solutions on the table, and many people eager and able to make change, closing the affordability gap is proving to be a monumental task.
Colorado’s housing crisis has gotten so bad that small towns are now building people homes
SILVER CLIFF – The vacant lot along First, Second and Third streets is lined by wooden stakes that delineate the Bobcat Subdivision, a site for affordable housing in this southern Colorado town. Eventually, this area could be filled with more than a dozen homes with stunning views of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. This […]
Parked: Colorado towns are taking action to preserve their remaining mobile-home parks
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — Jeff Morehead’s cat slips through the small, square door carved into his wooden fence, a gateway from Morehead’s mobile home lot to a serene landscape of blooming flowers and shade trees. On the other side of the wall is the Yampa River Botanic Park, a public garden that hugs the edge of […]