🏘️ Is Denver ready to say "Yes in my backyard?”

🚉 Civic Center Station Could Be Renamed After Disability Activist

City Council put its support behind an effort to memorialize Rev. Wade Blank, who led the “Gang of 19” disability rights protesters in their movement to make public transit more accessible. The council’s support will be factored into the Regional Transit Department’s formal process of renaming the station the Wade Blank Civic Center Station. [Denver Gazette 🔒]

💵 Officials Consider City Budget Freeze

City Council is preparing for a budget freeze next year with forecasts expecting flat revenue in 2026 due to reduced federal funding and lower sales tax collections than predicted. This year’s budget had a $7 million deficit, leading to cuts across city departments, which financial planners say could become permanent. [Denverite]

🌸 Our Picks For May In Denver

May is almost here and the City Cast Denver podcast crew is ready with recs and tips for making the most out of the month! From an adorable local shop selling frilly things and fun trinkets to the best time of the week to enjoy a new exhibit at the Denver Art Museum, there’s no shortage of fun stuff to do in the Mile High. [City Cast Denver 🎧]

🏘️ Will Colorado Ban Rent Algorithms?

After a similar bill failed in the final moments of last year’s legislative session, lawmakers are poised to approve a ban on rent-setting algorithms like RealPage, but it’s unclear if Gov. Jared Polis will sign the bill into law. If Polis does sign the bill, Colorado would be the first state to prohibit rent algorithms, which critics say are uncompetitive and inflate rents. [Denver Post 🔒]

A new poll from housing advocacy group YIMBY Denver of almost 300 likely voters tried to answer that question — and found strong support for building more housing in the city. City Cast Denver sat down with YIMBY Denver president Ryan Keeney to find out more about the poll results.

“We're very excited about the results of this survey,” Keeney said. “The headline here is that there is strong public support for increased housing density among likely Denver voters.”

Keeney and the YIMBYs see increasing the housing supply as an urgent issue. “170,000 people are projected to live east of E-470 and south of DIA by 2050,” Keeney told City Cast Denver. “I think that is unsustainable from a climate perspective, and I don't think that's the number one place people really wanna live. I think if we allowed the types of buildings that would accommodate people in Denver’s central historic streetcar-oriented neighborhoods, they would come."

The ultimate dream? “YIMBY Denver's North Star is that everyone who wants a home in Denver should be able to have a home in Denver, whether they already live here or whether they want to live here,” Keeney said.

YIMBY Denver commissioned the poll from Change Research, which surveyed 297 Denver voters between March 20 and 22, with a margin of error of 6.9%. We’ve presented a selection of the results below and a link to the full crosstabs below.

Survey says!

• Do you support or oppose “allowing more housing in all Denver neighborhoods?”
  • 40% strongly support
  • 33% somewhat support
  • 11% somewhat oppose
  • 14% strongly oppose
  • 3% not sure

• Which of the following comes closest to your view?
  • 27% said Denver neighborhoods with the lowest housing density should be prioritized for homebuilding to ensure growth and the addition of new housing units in those neighborhoods.
  • 45% said Denver should get rid of anti-growth rules across all neighborhoods to allow for the addition of new housing units. Neighborhoods where there is more demand for housing units can grow and become more dense.
  • 28% said adding new housing units isn’t a priority for Denver right now.

• Do you support or oppose the City of Denver building and owning mixed-income housing in Denver, including both affordable housing and market rate housing, if the effort required a one-time expenditure of city funds and no permanent tax increase?
  • 33% strongly support
  • 26% somewhat support
  • 10% somewhat oppose
  • 19% strongly oppose
  • 11% not sure

• Do you approve or disapprove of “buildings of up to six units on residential property in any neighborhood in the City of Denver?”
  • 28% strongly support
  • 30% somewhat support
  • 12% somewhat oppose
  • 19% strongly oppose
  • 11% not sure