Why affordable housing measures were voted down in Denver and Adams County

Polls show affordable housing is one of the issues Coloradans care about most. Voters in Denver and Adams County shot down measures that would have raised sales taxes to fund affordable housing.

Denver's measure, 2R, would have added a .5% sales tax added to the city's rate, and the money would have gone towards helping people seeking affordable housing in the Mile High City. 2R narrowly failed after a big push from Mayor Mike Johnston. CBS Colorado Democratic Political Analyst Mike Dino said he thinks most voters just "weren't ready for it yet."

"The mayor, spent a lot of money -- successfully -- to address homelessness (by) housing 2,000 people (that were unhoused) and also to deal with the migrant influx. And I think there wasn't enough detail in this plan for people to sign onto it," Dino said.

Dino said most people he spoke with in Denver about the measure thought it had good intentions but they weren't understanding how the revenue that would have been generated from the tax would have been spent. He says voters generally were looking for "a better plan."

"I believe that if Mayor Johnston brings it back, he'll have a chance of passing it," Dino said. "He'll get another bite at this apple."

Adams County's tax hike failed by about 40 percentage points, which is an indication county commissioners misgauged where voters were on the issue.

"Blue-collar Democrats don't like tax increases. They just don't, and we've seen that in previous ballot questions like this, going back years," said CBS Colorado Republican Political Analyst Dick Wadhams. "Even though Adams County is a Democratic county, remember those tax increases are regressive, and the lower down the economic ladder you go the more impact they have."

"And I think it's felt more in Adams County than it is in, say, Boulder County or even Jefferson County. So that's why it failed," he said.

Some school bond measures in Adams County passed. So it appears voters in the county are okay with the school district taking out more debt, they just don't want their taxes raised.

"Our sales tax in Denver is one of the highest, but interestingly enough, Commerce City, which is in Adams County, probably has the highest sales tax in all the metro area," Dino said. "So that's another reason they probably -- and particularly Commerce City -- didn't want to see the affordable housing measure pass.