The Following Content Has Been Provided by:Bob Unruh

Denver, a progressive, leftist, Democrat enclave run by progressives, leftists and Democrats, demands that homebuilders build the structures the city prefers or pay an exorbitant extra fee.

And now it’s being sued because its programs actually discourage what it purports to encourage: affordable housing.

It is the Pacific Legal Foundation that has brought the case on behalf of Denver homebuilder redT Homes, and CEO Nathan Adams.

The case challenges “Denver’s permitting scheme, which forces builders to either set aside units to sell at below-market prices or pay huge fees to help create affordable housing.”

A report at Complete Colorado explained, “At issue in this case is Denver’s Linkage Fee ordinance, which was passed in 2022, that Adams’ attorneys refer to as ‘an exorbitant ransom for permission to build much-needed homes and exacerbates the problem the fee is trying to solve.’”

The report explains Denver’s website demands that builders must be:

• Building affordable housing on-site, either at baseline requirements with associated incentives, or meet the enhanced requirements that provide enhanced incentives
• Paying a fee-in-lieu
• Negotiating an alternative
• Fulfilling High-Impact Development requirements (if your project qualifies as High-Impact Development, you must select that option in your application)

Those fees are moving, in just days, to $2.50 per square foot to $9 per square foot, depending on the type of construction.

The city claims the fees “support permanent housing and supportive services for at-risk residents, low- and moderate-income workforce rental housing and moderate-income for-sale housing.”:

However, PLF said the company’s expertise is in products ranging from “LiteHomes” to townhomes and apartments. And it explains Denver’s agenda actually turns against solving the problem of a shortage of thousands of housing units.

“The City’s regulations force home builders to pay for problems they do not create. The result: Developers have to increase the price of homes to cover the increased costs, making it harder for Denver families to buy homes,” the PLF said.

“The excessive red tape has already priced redT out of some projects completely. Two of its upcoming projects may be headed down the same path: four single-family homes, which are subject to $25,000 in fees, and two duplexes, which are subject to $45,000 in fees,” PLF said.

“Denver claims these fees are justified because new residents generate more housing demand. This rationale, however, misses the mark—the housing shortage stems from regulations that restrict supply by making it harder to build homes. Denver is punishing the very builders working to solve the housing crisis,” according to the report.

“There’s also a constitutional problem with these inclusionary zoning fees. The Supreme Court determined in a quartet of rulings that governments cannot burden homebuilders with costs for problems they do not create. Taken together, those cases established that permit conditions for new construction must be proportional and directly related to its impact. Anything above and beyond is an unconstitutional property taking,” the PLF said.