The members of Western Colorado Alliance of Mesa County’s Just Housing team are rolling up their sleeves. Our job in the coming months: Get voters to say YES! to Proposition HH and Measure 2B!

The lack of affordable housing has become a serious crisis both in the state and more locally, in Mesa County. In our Alliance’s deep listening work during the past two years, housing has been at the top of the list of problems faced by Western Colorado residents.

Proposition HH helps at the state level by:

• Reducing property taxes for all
• Creating an annual $20 million fund for rental assistance
• Reducing tax assessment on all homes by $50,000 in 2023
• Helps seniors downsize by making the Senior Property Tax Exemption portable
• Helps local schools, fire departments, etc. grow their budgets by 20%

And Measure 2B can help us more locally! This ballot measure permits 99-year leases, which would permit Mesa County to access existing money allocated for affordable housing, and would allow the city to collaborate with non-profit organizations and developers to build more affordable housing.

As a first step in this effort, Western Colorado Alliance of Mesa County will host an Open House Forum on Tuesday, October 17 at 6 pm at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Grand Valley (536 Ouray Ave. in Grand Junction). We’ll talk more about the reasons we’re supporting this proposition and ballot measure, and what we — you and I — can do to help bring more affordable housing to Mesa County. We hope you’ll join us on Tuesday, October 17!