Renaissance Downtown Lofts is home to 100 men and women who had been homeless for an average of eight years and cycling in and out of Denver’s jails due to their homeless status.
The Housing First development provides residents with permanent supportive housing and access to an Assertive Community Treatment team that provides case management, counseling, and other services.
A year after the project opened, 95 of the initial residents remain housed, according to developer John Parvensky, president and CEO of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless (CCH). In addition, Renaissance Downtown Lofts is estimated to save the community $34,000 per resident per year in avoided emergency and health-care costs. With 100 residents, that’s $3.4 million each year.
The $25.7 million development demonstrates innovation in several areas, including its financing. CCH created a condominium structure in order to use both 9% and 4% low-income housing tax credits. The 9% credits financed 67 units, but CCH knew more units were needed. With the condo deal structure, 4% credits were brought into the deal to create another 34 apartments. One unit is for a manager.
The project also leverages the Denver Social Impact Bond, a unique "pay for success" program where foundations and other social investors loan funds to pay for rental assistance and services to accomplish specific objectives. If the goals of housing stability and decreased jail stays are met, the city repays the investors.
Renaissance Downtown Lofts is also unique in its construction. The building uses steel panels that were built off site and then erected on site to save time and create efficiencies.
The development initially faced NIMBY opposition from concerned neighbors. “We were able to explain that this is permanent housing and all the services that would be there,” Parvensky says. “The concerns they raised would actually be solved by the project.”
The development also sets the stage for other types of development in the neighborhood. Since it has been built, a number of market-rate units have also gone up in the area, copying the same color scheme and features of Renaissance Downtown Lofts.
