Affordable housing for Native Americans planned for Denver

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The City and County of Denver may give a developer an $8.6 million forgivable loan to build affordable housing for Native Americans at 901 Navajo St. According to a memo from city staff to the Safety, Housing, Education and Homelessness Committee of the City Council, the development by MHMP 21 Navajo LLLC would be the first in Colorado “to provide supportive and affordable housing combined with a health clinic focused on serving American Indian/Alaska Native individuals and families. A Federally Qualified Health Center to be operated by Denver Indian Health and Family Services aims to address both the housing and health disparities….”

Units will be available to people making between 30% and 60% of the average median income, or AMI for Denver. That’s about $27,400 annually for a single person or $62,640 for a two-person household. There will be 94 units at 30% AMI, 44 units at 66% AMI and the remainder at 40% and 50% AMI.

A covenant will guarantee that the 190-unit building will remain affordable for 99 years, according to the memo.

The loan appears on the consent agenda of the committee. The committee meeting was canceled this week but consent items will move forward unless a committee member calls one out before Wednesday. Even if the item does move out of committee, the full City Council must sign off on the loan, too.