This is Part 3 of 3 posts about Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity’s 3rd Interfaith Dialogue, “Who Is Your Neighbor?”
Read Part I, “Interfaith Dialogue Focuses on Neighborliness.”
Read Part 2, “Interfaith Dialogue Panelists Share Experiences with Housing.”
Following the panel discussion at the interfaith dialogue but before participants engaged in a facilitated, interfaith discussion at each table, Steve Posey, chief housing officer for the city of Colorado Springs, shared remarks about the need for affordable homeownership opportunities. Pikes Peak Habitat serves all of El Paso County, and we work with elected officials in both the county and its various municipalities to support and promote affordable homeownership.
“There are a few things that Mayor Yemi [Mobolade] heard when he was out running for office of mayor,” said Posey. “He heard a lot from seniors who had lived in the same apartment for a decade or more and suddenly found their rents going up and up and up. He heard a lot from working families who were not able to find adequate apartments or adequate houses.”
Pikes Peak Habitat staff hear similar stories, both through partners in our home repair program and future homeowner families.
More unexpected, Posey said, were comments “from younger professionals in our community, who were having a real hard time either renting an apartment or trying to buy a house.”
He shared that the median age in Colorado Springs is 34.5 years old. “That’s a very good thing, because it means that we’ve got a young and energetic–I’m still pretty energetic but not so young!–population here that really is looking to our city, to invest in our city, to put down roots here, and they want to be able to buy houses and realize the American dream, just like generations have before them,” he said. “And those opportunities are not as common or easy. The access points of being able to buy a house are not as achievable as they have been at times in the past.”
He shared the city’s goal, which he admitted is aspirational: “Colorado Springs is striving to become an inspiring example of a city where everyone has the ability to choose housing that is right for them.”
In addition to Posey, Thomas Thompson, community affairs advisor for the city of Colorado Springs, attended the dialogue and participated in a table discussion. Moderators at each table also took questions and notes from participants to share with the city officials.
Advocacy–meeting with elected officials at the local, state, and national levels to support policies that increase the supply of and promote broader access to safe, affordable, and decent homes–is a crucial part of our work at Pikes Peak Habitat. We partner with local workforce families each year, but the need for affordable homes is far greater than we can meet, so we join other Habitat affiliates in working to reform laws in a non-confrontational, nonpartisan way that will provide broader access to homeownership opportunities for families in our area and throughout the United States.
For example, a year ago, Pikes Peak Habitat, KRDO NewsRadio, and KRDO NewsChannel 13 co-hosted the 2023 Colorado Springs Mayoral Candidate Forum on Affordable Homeownership. All 12 mayoral candidates, including Mobolade, participated in the event, where they answered questions about their definition of affordable housing, their views on what has contributed to the crisis in their area, and their ideas for how to address the issue.
We’re grateful to Posey and Thompson for joining us in the interfaith dialogue, and we look forward to working toward their aspiration–and our goal of a world where everyone has a decent, affordable place to live!
