With the coming election on November 7, you have the chance to make a real difference regarding the availability of affordable housing on the Western Slope!

Many in our community were concerned about the lack of affordable housing, the cost of living, and the difficulty they had when trying to find a home. Richmark, a housing developer from out of state, submitted a proposal to the City for fee waivers in their plan to tear down the former downtown City Market and build market-rate apartments.

Our Mesa County affiliate’s Just Housing committee quickly formed with a need to speak up against this new development. Just Housing invited all of the city councilors for one-on-one meetings in our space. all except one attended, and one brought the city staff along. However, every meeting I attended with Richmark on the agenda got pushed, postponed, or rescheduled, until finally, after getting most of our team to attend a second time, we got to speak up. Just Housing members spoke to the Council stating this development incentive plan was not addressing affordability.

Although we lost that battle, Just Housing prepared, promoted, and conducted an Open House which was well received! Poignant stories were shared with all who attended and during break-out sessions.

We had gathered many people going through different housing situations from owners to renters to business owners, and heard many stories, including the heart-wrenching housing tale of Sarah, who had recently joined Just Housing. She had moved to Mesa County to be a teacher with her husband. Living with him was displacing her whole life. He then decided he wanted a divorce, and she could no longer afford to live in the apartment they shared with a teacher’s salary. She attempted to stay, but could not find a way to afford to live here, so she quit her job and moved to be with her family. Stories like these and others have been heard throughout our Deep Listening campaign and our Just Housing events.

Driven by all of these stories and the fact that the City Council passed the Richmark project, Western Colorado Alliance of Mesa County’s Just Housing has continued to educate, not only the team, but the community on causes, repercussions, and possible solutions for the housing crisis.

We have built local relationships, and have had valuable connections with former City Council members and new City Councilors, like Alliance member Scott Beilfuss. We’ve built partnerships with Grand Junction Housing Authority, Habitat for Humanity, Grand Valley Peace & Justice – Bridge to Hope. And we’ve become members on housing and homelessness coalitions.

Our goal is to put Grand Junction on the path toward meeting its housing needs. Our current objective is to collaborate with the City Council on Amendment 2B, a ballot issue that should increase maximum leases from 25 years to 99 years, permitting housing built with money acquired from the implementation of Proposition 123, which was passed last year.

We are also supporting Prop. HH, the statewide measure that would lower property taxes while simultaneously creating a fund to help low-income renters.

To help these measures pass, we hosted an educational Open House on October 16. We are teaming up with the City Council to promote these ballot choices and will be doing some Get Out The Vote canvassing efforts as well. And apart from social media and mailings, we also hope to collaborate with different organizations to put together a holiday event for younger voters. We hope that we can get them interested and see that, with their support, we can move the needle toward affordable, sustainable, equitable, and safe housing for ALL in our community.

If you’d like to help in the struggle for affordable housing for all, please join Just Housing members Arlo, Constance, Scott, Alexis, and Jennifer by joining Western Colorado Alliance of Mesa County’s Just Housing team. YOU are what can make this movement more powerful!

And by all means — please vote YES! on Prop HH and Amendment 2B by 7 pm on November 7!