Colorado Springs Housing Advocacy in The How-To of Affordable · Introduction to Affordable Housing...

14
The How-To of Affordable Housing Advocacy in Colorado Springs By Elam Boockvar-Klein, Co-Founder of the Colorado Springs Pro-Housing Partnership (COSPHP)

Transcript of Colorado Springs Housing Advocacy in The How-To of Affordable · Introduction to Affordable Housing...

  • The How-To of AffordableHousing Advocacy inColorado Springs

    By Elam Boockvar-Klein, Co-Founder of the Colorado Springs Pro-Housing Partnership (COSPHP)

  • Table ofContents

    The Problem, Solution, and Research

    The Findings from Seattle and Minneapolis

    Colorado Springs Context

    Recommendations for Colorado SpringsAffordable Housing Advocacy

    Conclusion

    01

    02

    05

    06

    10

  • The Colorado Springs Pro-Housing Partnership is a grassroots coalition of diverse stakeholders -including teachers, faith-based communities, southeast residents, veterans, and more -

    advocating for local policies that promote affordable housing.

  • Introduction to Affordable Housing Research

    01

    In Colorado Springs, an affordable housing crisis isemerging. According to a recent report by the city’sCommunity Development division, 32% of households– or more than 80,000 people -- in El Paso County paymore than 30% percent of their income on housing,making them housing-insecure. Amongst many otherfactors, part of the problem is our city's zoning policy.Much of our city is zoned for single-family homes,making it next-to-impossible to add the type ofaffordable housing units necessary. Thus, the lack ofaffordable housing is a failure of public policy, andtherefore necessitates political solutions.

    Political solutions do not magically appear. Rather, theyare driven by strong, organized advocacy. For thisreason, a few peers and I recently founded theColorado Springs Pro-Housing Partnership (COSPHP), acoalition of stakeholder groups that include faithcommunities, veterans, teachers, senior citizens,students, and many more. Our goal is to make sure thatthe city hears the voices of those most directly affectedas they consider policies to address housingunaffordability. In particular, we advocate to change zoning policies to allow for more affordable types ofhousing to be built in more neighborhoods throughoutthe city.

    In doing this advocacy, it became clear that advocatesin cities across the country have plenty of experiencethat we can learn from. As such, I decided to conduct aresearch project in which I analyzed the elementsnecessary for policy change in Seattle andMinneapolis. Both cities had recently implementedtransformative zoning policy changes to address theirlack of affordable housing, which is why I chose toexamine them in particular. Minneapolis eliminatedsingle-family zoning city-wide, while Seattle loosenedADU restrictions, mandated affordable units, andrequired developers to pay into an affordable housingtrust fund. By examining these successful outcomes, Icould discern some key takeaways from the advocatesthere to help guide our organizing work here in theSprings. Rooted in theories of social movements, Ilooked at the political windows, campaign tactics,framings, and coalitions that were present in eachlocale. A few key questions emerged:

    How did campaign actors effectively frame issuesof zoning and affordable housing to mobilizesupport?What types of tactics did activists use, and how didthey impact decision-makers?Which stakeholder groups became activelyinvolved in the advocacy coalition, and how didthey influence the framings utilized?How did existing political opportunities shapepolicy potential and campaign tactics?

    Introduction

    This report outlines some of the key findings from Seattle and Minneapolis. I will then compare the politicalcontext of those cities to that of Colorado Springs. Finally, based on both my research and advocacyexperience, I will provide some recommendations for effective affordable housing advocacy in ColoradoSprings. While my research and our advocacy are focused on zoning policies, the takeaways in this report areequally applicable to all forms of housing advocacy. Ultimately, however, this research is only as impactful asit is widely disseminated. Therefore, I aim to share this research with organizations and advocates who can acton these important case study findings, amplifying the work that is already taking place on the ground. Andplease share with your fellow advocates, activists, and concerned citizens!

    The Problem

    The Solution

    The Question

    The Report

  • In both cities,existing politicalopportunity shapedthe subsequentadvocacy tactics

    02

    In both Seattle and Minneapolis, city council and city agencies signaled an opening for advocacy because:

    A younger, more progressive council – many of whom ran on affordable housing platforms – was elected just acouple of years before the zoning changes occurred. They put zoning changes on the agenda even before theadvocacy groups ultimately rallied behind them.

    Each city’s planning department engaged in a more extensive, equitable form of public outreach, accessingdirectly-impacted voices who are often left out of political processes. This provided the empirical ammunitionto make the policy changes happen.

    Findings

    Political Opportunities and AdvocacyTactics

    Neighbors for More Neighbors Lawn Signs in Minneapolis

    A strong presence at public hearings provided political cover forsupportive councilmembers and shaped sympathetic newscoverage. In order to mobilize people to come to those publichearings, advocates:

    Leveraged social media to build a base and communicatetheir message.

    Lowered barriers to engagement by making it as easy aspossible for people to make their voices heard to decision-makers. They created form emails, charted easy ways tomake public comments, and provided all of the necessaryinformation.

    Created lawn signs to generate a mobilizing sense of conflictwith NIMBY homeowners. Such signs were particularlyeffective in Minneapolis, where they made the pro-housingmessage visible in single-family neighborhoods.

    Political Opportunities

    The Findings

    Advocacy Tactics

  • We envision a futurewhere we all find secure,affordable homes inneighborhoods wechoose.

    03

    In each city, framings were crafted to both appeal topotential campaign actors and powerful decision-makers. The following were some of the most common:

    Promoting a positive, people-oriented vision ofabundant homes and complete neighborhoods.Neighbors for More Neighbors, a Minneapolis-basedadvocacy group, included the following as one of theircore values: “We envision a future where we all findsecure, affordable homes in neighborhoods wechoose. Those neighborhoods may include greattransit, a community where family and friends areneighbors, or complete neighborhoods with walkableerrands and jobs.”

    Emphasizing the need to legalize new types ofhousing. As one article in Seattle put it, “If we wantmore homes in more neighborhoods for more people,it’s time we legalized housing.”

    Providing an opportunity for seniors to age in place.For older adults looking to downsize, cities must allowmore housing that is catered to their specific needs.

    “This isn’t enough” – making the proposed changessound like an inadequate-but-obvious compromise.Countering the notion that the proposed policychanges were radical, advocates instead emphasizedthey were just a conservative first step.

    Findings

    Framings

    Seattle's More Options for Accessory Residences Logo

    In Seattle, advocates heavily invoked the need toreduce carbon emissions. If zoning allowed formore types of housing, it would be easier todevelop denser, more walkable neighborhoods.

    In Minneapolis, advocates primarily focused onracial justice. As exclusionary – single-family –zoning was initially implemented to both raciallyand socio-economically segregate cities, bydiversifying the types of housing across allneighborhoods, the loosening of restrictive zoningwould right historic wrongs.

    The Findings

    Framing

  • 04Findings

    Coalitions and Summary

    Advocacy campaigns were driven by informal,volunteer-led grassroots advocacy groups. Theirgrassroots nature allowed them to maintainautonomy in their framings and tactics, and promptedthe formation of informal coalitions.

    The coalitions in support of zoning policy changeswere broad and diverse, including housing advocacygroups, labor unions, transit advocates, andenvironmentalist groups.

    Communities of color-led organizations stayed on thesidelines, neither mobilizing in support of oropposition to zoning policy changes.

    Seattle in particular had a case of strange bedfellows –there were more conservative players, most notablythe Master Builder’s Association, in the pro-housingcoalition.

    A Missing Middle Housing Model in Seattle

    In sum, research revealed that existing politicalwindows – due to the presence of progressivecouncilmembers and city staff – became theimpetus for advocacy engagement. Grassrootsactivists then crafted framings tailored to theircontexts to gain the support of environmentalgroups, city officials, and racial justice groups.A sense of conflict with Not-In-My-Backyard(NIMBY) opponents in turn mobilized coalitionstakeholders to provide the political covernecessary for councilmembers to defendproposed changes. These takeaways aresummarized in the following diagram.

    Coalitions & Organizational Structures

    The Findings

    Summarized Takeaways

  • We can create the politicalopportunity necessary forchange to happen

    05

    In Seattle and Minneapolis, not a single Republican is amember of city council. Each are ranked towards the topof the most liberal cities in the country. It is no wonder,then, that advocates and activists in each of those citiesenjoyed a much wider political window. On the otherhand, we know that Colorado Springs is a completelydifferent ballgame. Long defined by the militaryinstitutions within its boundaries and its Focus on theFamily ethos, it is by some metrics the most conservativelarge city in the entire country. Some of the morepredominant discourses in the city center economicsand small government. Given this prevailing logic,environmentalists, for instance, have long resorted toeconomic, rather than climate change, arguments toadvocate for the closure of the Martin Drake powerplant. In doing so, they aim to appeal to the largelyconservative policymakers on city council, even if such aframing counters the values of many of the organizersthemselves. Thus, in order to make the findings fromSeattle and Minneapolis applicable, it is important tofirst paint a clearer picture of the Colorado Springshousing policy context.

    Colorado Springs Context

    With regards to zoning, the Planning Commission has inthe last couple of years placed Accessory Dwelling Units(ADUs) on the council agenda in an effort to addresshousing unaffordability. To put it in perspective, Seattleand Minneapolis both engaged in similar debates aboutADUs 5-7 years ago. In each of those cities, ADUs thenbecame a gateway policy for more transformativechanges in the last couple of years. Our PlanningCommission and Community Development teamsunderstand that we too need to alter our restrictivezoning policies to ease our affordable housing crisis; cityofficials therefore provide some opportunity here.Council, however, has remained largely opposed to anywholesale changes to our zoning code, almost entirelyshutting the window that the Planning Commissiontried to open. Thus, as long as our city council isdominated by the more conservative sentiments in ourcity, there will be little political opportunity for change.However, we can create the political opportunitynecessary for change to happen. With the right framings,coalitions, and tactics, zoning and housingpolicy change is possible. Based on both my researchfindings and our advocacy experience here, thefollowing section highlights political strategies &opportunities, coalition members, tactics, and framingsthat we need in Colorado Springs to transform housingand zoning policy in our city. It will require an all-of-the-above approach to make it happen. And like Seattle andMinneapolis, it is possible!

    The Context ofColorado Springs

  • 06Advocacy Recommendations

    Housing Advocacy Recommendations

    This section outlines, based on research findings and COSPHP experience,key recommendations for housing advocacy in Colorado Springs. This will

    serve as a "how-to" manual, identifying the who, what, and how oforganizing to change zoning and affordable housing policies in our city.

    There are many policy-related avenues that can be leveraged to ease our affordable housing crisis. Thefollowing are examples of a few such opportunities to make our policy structure facilitate the development ofmore affordable, walkable neighborhoods in our city.

    1. Create political opportunity through city councilWe need more influential allies on city council, and thus must do what is necessary to getnew, pro-housing members elected in April 2021.

    2. Leverage existing political opportunity at the state levelWith a Democratic-controlled state legislature, we have an opportunity to get effectiveaffordable housing policy passed at the state level.

    3. Build upon ADU ordinanceBoth Seattle and Minneapolis implemented less-restrictive ADU ordinances many yearsprior to more transformative changes. In the coming years, we must advocate for looseningADU restrictions with an eye towards broader changes down the road.

    4. Prioritize looser zoning policies in RetoolCOSThe city is engaging in a two-year process to rewrite the entire zoning code. Although thereare minimal opportunities for public input, it is imperative that we communicate to themour priorities – mixed-use development, walkability, and missing middle housing (2-6 unitsper lot).

    Political Strategy

    Examples of Accessory Dwelling Units in Colorado Springs

  • 07Advocacy Recommendations

    Coalition MembersA diverse coalition of groups – including both mainstream and more informal entities – is

    necessary to build the power required to reach these political and policy goals. The followingstakeholder groups and organizations in Colorado Springs are particularly key to have on

    board. However, this is not a comprehensive list. Over time, we have interacted with acombination of these stakeholder groups, all of whom have offered varying levels of support

    for our housing policy advocacy.

    VeteransEl Paso County ProgressiveDemocrats

    Faith CommunitiesThe Faith TableFirst Congregational ChurchTemple Beit-TorahSolid Rock Christian Center

    Teachers & EducationProfessionals

    District 11 Board of DirectorsPalmer High SchoolColorado Springs EducationAssociation

    Senior CitizensInnovations in AgingColorado SpringsCommission on AgingAge-Friendly ColoradoSpringsThe AARP

    UnionsArea Labor Council

    Community DevelopmentOrganizations

    Solid Rock CommunityDevelopment CorporationCouncil of NeighborhoodOrganizations (CONO)The RISE Coalition

    Social Justice OrganizationsPikes Peak Justice andPeace CommissionColorado Springs FoodRescueNAACPMoms Demand ActionACLUInsideout

    Environmental GroupsBike Colorado SpringsSierra Club/Beyond Coal350.orgRocky Mountain FieldInstituteColorado Springs Utilities

    Housing & HomelessnessAdvocacy Groups

    Affordable HousingCollaborativeHomeward Pikes PeakThe PlaceGreccio Housing

    BusinessesChamber of CommerceBarber ShopsCoffee Shops

    Colorado Springs CityGovernment

    Community DevelopmentDivisionPlanning Commission

    StudentsColorado CollegePikes Peak CommunityCollegeUCCSHigh schools (Palmer,Mitchell, etc.)

    The Who

  • 08

    1. A strong, visible presence at public meetings isimperative.Bright blue t-shirts have been very effective for thePro-Housing Partnership, and we recommendsomething along those lines to help peopleimmediately associate an image with your message.

    2. Create lawn signs to make visible such amessage in neighborhood settings, not just publichearings.This generated significant media attention inMinneapolis, and could have a similar effect here.

    3. Make it as easy as possible for people tocommunicate your message to decision-makers.This can be done through each of the following:

    Put together a document with key talking pointsand necessary contact information.Develop succinct, catchy, clear slogans.

    4. Use social media and email listservs to:Keep people engaged and connected with localgoings-on.Disseminate articles of interest.Encourage people to attend meetings – your jobis to hype up the importance of these events.Infuse occasional humor into the campaign –make satirical posts about Not-In-My-Backyarders, develop funny hashtags, etc. Humoris incredibly effective at keeping people engaged.

    Advocacy Recommendations

    Advocacy TacticsTactics have many targets – the broader public, decision-makers, and potentialadvocates. Some tactics communicate the power of the coalition to politicians,

    hoping to influence their decisions. Others target the general public to shiftentrenched narratives and discourses. And most fundamentally, still others are

    necessary to build a base of support – and potential actors – in the city. Thefollowing include a variety of such strategies necessary to build support, shift

    predominant narratives, and change decision-makers’ minds.

    5. Be visible in local media outlets.Publish op-eds in the Gazette, Independent,Southeast Express, or the Business Journal.Create a platform to widely disseminate articlesabout affordable housing and zoning – a website,blog, etc.Build relationships with local journalists so theycan highlight the importance of this issue.

    6. Build and maintain relationships withinfluential allies, such as the following:

    Sympathetic city councilmembers. A couple ofcouncilmembers have been particularlysupportive of our cause, offering advice aboutwhich strategic levers to pull and providing usimportant inside scoops.City officials. Until the final vote, they run theshow. After all, they are the ones who typicallyput new policies on the table in the first place.

    A blue-shirted PHP supporter delivering remarks during an ADU town hall

    The How

  • 09Advocacy Recommendations

    Effective FramingIn building coalitions, pushing a publicly visible message, and persuading decision-makers, framing is key.

    This is where the dominant political context of Colorado Springs comes into play. You need to strike the rightbalance of catering to existing conservative/libertarian discourses, and slowly changing some of those

    entrenched narratives of renter stigmatization and Not-In-My-Backyardism. The following are a few of themost effective framings that can be used in different contexts, whether they be public hearings, behind-

    closed-doors meetings, or organized events:

    1. Messaging that caters to more conservativediscourses:

    Supply and demand – the more housing we areallowed to build, the more we can reduce price-inflating demand for an inadequate supply ofhousing. We want an abundance of housing!Reducing unnecessary restrictions on housingconstruction – we need to allow more homeownersto have the ability to build an additional unit ontheir property if they so desire.

    2.  Common-sense visions:We need to legalize new types of housing to meetthe diverse housing needs of Colorado Springsresidents. In a city filled with military veterans,retired couples, young families, and collegestudents, we must find a way to accommodatethem all to maintain the vibrancy of ourneighborhoods.To reduce the existing strain on our infrastructure –roads, police and fire departments, etc. – we mustbuild new housing in existing neighborhoodsinstead of continuing to expand outward. Sprawl isfiscally and environmentally irresponsible.

    3.   Positive, progressive messages:Ending the exclusionary history of zoning – in orderto stop racial & socio-economic segregation,gentrification & displacement, we must end therestrictive zoning that has historically excluded low-income and non-white families from wealth-buildingopportunities and dignified living conditions.Minimizing our carbon footprint – if we want toreduce commute times, improve residential energyefficiency, and create the infrastructure necessary forpublic transit, we must build more in existingneighborhoods.

    4.   Housing and the Coronavirus:Now more than ever, housing is health. Even pre-pandemic, housing-insecure families spentsubstantially less on healthcare. Now, secure shelterquite literally is healthcare, protecting families fromexposure to the coronavirus. We need to ensure thateveryone can find an affordable place to live tomaintain the public health of our neighborhoods.Our affordable housing crisis only exacerbates thecoronavirus crisis. We need to treat our affordablehousing crisis as the crisis it is to help us prepare forthe next pandemic, natural disaster, or climatecatastrophe.The fallout of the coronavirus crisis willdisproportionately impact housing-insecure families,many of whom will be unable to pay for housingwithout government intervention. We need to utilizeevery means possible – eviction moratoriums, rentalassistance, and the loosening of zoning restrictions –to ensure that every resident has the secure,dignified housing they need.

    We want abundanthousing in walkable,sustainableneighborhoods

    The How

  • 10Conclusion

    Concluding ThoughtsThe coronavirus crisis has single-handedly thrust ourhousing crisis into the national spotlight. Across theUnited States, the National Multifamily HousingCouncil estimated that a whopping one-third oftenants didn’t make a full rental payment for themonth of April, 2020. Here in Colorado, the ApartmentAssociation found that just over 16% of tenants intheir units were unable to cover their rent for thismonth.[1] In light of these numbers, state and localgovernments have taken temporary stopgap actions.After Gov. Jared Polis issued a suggested moratoriumon evictions and foreclosures on March 20th, manycounties, including El Paso, formally halted evictionand foreclosure procedures. The city of ColoradoSprings is trying to figure out how to use federal fundsto provide rental assistance. While these arenecessary measures in the short-term, the reality isthat we had a housing crisis on our hands before thecoronavirus arrived, which only exacerbated existingpublic health crisis. 

    [1] Aldo Svaldi, “Some Denver Tenants Who MissedApril’s Rent Receiving Letters Demanding Payment,”Denver Post, April 9, 2020.

    While the coronavirus has forced quick action toaddress immediate needs, it also provides anopportunity to re-examine the policy structures thatcreated the affordable housing crisis in the firstplace. To transform the housing landscape ofColorado Springs, we must challenge the existingzoning, tenants’ rights, and rental assistancepolicies. Only then can we ensure the collectivehealth of all residents, prepared for another disasterlike the one we have on our hands. Ultimately, thegravity of our current situation requires a similarlyunprecedented movement to ensure it neverhappens again. Excitingly, the coalescence of manyorganizations around this issue in Colorado Springshas the makings of such a movement. As concernedcitizens, activists, and advocates, we understandthat the time to organize is now. This report ismeant to propel such action; let's sustain it for yearsto come.

  • @COSPHP

    Colorado Springs Pro-Housing Partnership

    [email protected]

    Colorado SpringsPro-HousingPartnership