Denver's Affordable Housing Requirement for Development

If you're buying land or an existing lot in Denver to redevelop, the city's Expanding Housing Affordability ordinance is a real cost item to budget for, not background policy -- it requires either affordable units or a per-square-foot fee on most new development, residential and commercial alike.

This page covers what's specific to Denver County. For the general explanation, see the national guide.

What the ordinance actually requires, and who it applies to

Denver City Council passed the Expanding Housing Affordability (EHA) ordinance in June 2022, amending both the municipal code and the Denver Zoning Code, effective July 1, 2022. The core inclusionary-housing requirement applies to new residential development of 10 or more units: it must designate 8% to 12% of those units as affordable to lower-income households, whether the project is for-sale or for-rent, and that affordability restriction runs with the units for 99 years -- not a temporary window that expires after a handful of years.

Smaller residential projects (nine units or fewer) and commercial development don't face the unit-designation requirement, but they aren't exempt from the ordinance altogether -- they're instead subject to a revised, increased linkage fee assessed on a per-square-foot basis. As of the ordinance's effective date, fees ranged from roughly $0.96 per square foot for industrial uses up to $3.65 per square foot for commercial, office, and related uses in higher-market areas, with smaller residential projects (nine units or fewer) generally in the $1.75 to $2.50 per square foot range. Given Denver's essentially nonexistent raw-land market and the fact that almost everything transacted here is infill or redevelopment (per the county hub), this fee or unit requirement is relevant to nearly any land purchase in Denver County intended for new construction.

Incentives that offset the cost -- and what to check before you budget a project

The EHA ordinance pairs its requirements with real financial and zoning incentives meant to offset the added cost: more flexible parking requirements, height incentives that can allow additional building stories in some zones, and reductions in permit fees for projects that include the required affordable units. Whether a specific parcel qualifies for a given incentive depends on its zoning and the project's design, so this isn't a flat citywide bonus -- get Community Planning and Development's read on which incentives your specific project and zone district would actually unlock before assuming a particular height or parking allowance applies.

Before finalizing a purchase contingent on a specific unit count or building size, run the numbers both ways: as a 10-plus-unit project subject to the affordable-unit set-aside, and as a smaller project subject instead to the linkage fee, since the threshold at exactly 10 units is a real cliff edge that changes which requirement applies. Fees and thresholds have been subject to legal challenge and ongoing adjustment since 2022, so confirm the current fee schedule and unit thresholds directly with Community Planning and Development rather than relying on the 2022 figures for a live project budget.

Denver's Housing Mitigation Requirement: The EHA Ordinance

What the ordinance actually requires, and who it applies to

Incentives that offset the cost -- and what to check before you budget a project

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