The City of Aurora Wants to Hear From You: Housing Survey

AURORA – The city of Aurora recently conducted a study on the housing needs of the community and is seeking input from residents and other stakeholders on how to best expand housing options across the income spectrum throughout the city. 

The draft housing study and public survey are available in English at AuroraGov.org/HousingStudy and in Spanish at AuroraGov.org/EstudioVivienda. The surveys are open now through Friday, Oct. 30. Aurora coordinated the dispersal of the housing survey to the CU Anschutz community through the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Community Engagement. 

‘Aurora is experiencing housing conditions where

low- and moderate-income households are struggling

to keep up with rising housing costs, 

something that’s been exacerbated by

job losses associated with COVID-19.’

– Jessica Prosser, manager of

Community Development

“Aurora is experiencing housing conditions similar to many communities in the metro area, where low- and moderate-income households are struggling to keep up with rising housing costs, something that has been exacerbated by job losses associated with COVID-19,” said Jessica Prosser, manager of Community Development for the city of Aurora. “Our housing study provides strategies for how we can help address those struggles, and we want to hear from residents, community organizations, business owners, real-estate agents and others about their support of those strategies and other ideas they might have.”

The housing study was initiated by the city in 2019 to identify a broad range of potential policy, financial and regulatory tools to address housing affordability. While the city has provided housing and community development programs to support the development of housing and housing services in the past, additional options for funding and programs would expand the city’s effectiveness in ensuring that the current and future housing needs of workforce, families and residents across the age and income spectrum are met.

This Aurora Housing Study focuses on the most effective, efficient and outcome-proven methods to expand housing options in the city, with a focus on:

• Increasing and leveraging existing resources to address housing needs
• Setting housing goals and managing housing investments to achieve those goals
• Preserving existing housing while increasing the supply of housing for households across the income spectrum
• Improving regulatory processes as needed to reduce the cost of housing development

Among the strategy recommendations in the study are the creation of a housing trust fund to support the preservation and production of affordable housing; the implementation of development fee waivers, reductions or reimbursements for affordable housing projects; the identification of publicly owned land for mixed-income housing; and the development of a recruitment strategy for executive ownership and high-end rental housing. The full recommendations can be found at AuroraGov.org/HousingStudy.

The purpose of the public survey is to understand the community’s support for the policy and strategy recommendations found in the Housing Study draft. The feedback provided will help the city validate its recommendations and prioritize its actions toward addressing the housing issues facing Aurora. Additionally, this is an opportunity to identify model programs, best practices and case studies to help implement the priority recommendations.