From the laptop of JJK Places’ President:

Further evidence of why the work that JJK Places and others in the affordable housing realm is so crucial was recently released via a study cpnducted by the Washington, D.C.-based National Community Reinvestment Coalition.

As the Denver Post reported, “The study examined more than 10,600 neighborhoods in U.S. cities that researchers classified as ‘eligible to gentrify.’ That means that home values and incomes in those areas were below the 40th percentile nationally. Of these areas, 954 neighborhoods experienced gentrification from 2013 to 2017. Researchers tracked changes in income, home value and the percentage of residents who had obtained college degrees.

Of the 80 neighborhoods in the Denver-Aurora area that met eligibility criteria, 22 gentrified during the study period, a rate of 27.5%. That’s a higher rate than in any other U.S. metro other than San Francisco-Oakland (31.3%) and ahead of No. 3 Boston by more than 6 percentage points.

Read more:
https://www.denverpost.com/2020/07/08/denver-gentrification-san-francisco/

-Will Kralovec

President and Founder

From the laptop of JJK Places’ President:

“It’s exciting to see these three future affordable housing developments get the city’s blessing by helping to fund them,” said Will Kralovec, president of JJK Places, PBC. He added, “It’s particularly great to see the 48th and Race site finally start to get developed. I had worked on that property with another developer a number of years ago when I was with Urban Land Conservancy (ULC), the property own. Unfortunately the deal never materialized, so I’m now thrilled for ULC and their new development partner Columbia Ventures. They will be producing much needed affordable housing to help address displacement in the neighborhood, along with creating a new home for Clinica Tepeyac in the ground floor commercial space. It will be a great project!”

https://coloradosun.com/2020/08/13/denver-affordable-housing-projects/l

-Will Kralovec

President and Founder

From the laptop of JJK Places’ President:

The Coronavirus is not only affecting people’s health and altering American’s usual lifestyles and routines, but it is causing new housing affordability challenges for millions of households.

A group of housing advocates have now banded together to apply pressure to Congress to act on a suggested package of rent, mortgage, eviction, and related relief measures that could help forestall a rash of people defaulting on mortgages, being foreclosed upon, losing their apartments, and otherwise being forced from their homes and into the streets.

How do we as a country address this predicament? The COVID-19 epidemic puts a new urgency on this long existing problem. Without action of some kind at both federal and local levels, the consequences could be very dire.

But what are the best solutions to address this problem?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.axios.com/coronavirus-letter-congress-affordable-housing-5abf1b4a-e7ce-49cb-ba2f-7be4f5b2d898.html

-Will Kralovec

President and Founder

From the laptop of JJK Places’ President:

The Brookings Institution has put out a sobering article describing how the coronavirus is causing a new spotlight on our country’s lack of adequate housing.

Social isolation orders and shelter-in-place requirements across the country are fine if you have a home to do it in. But what about our homeless population? And what about those members of our  population who suffer from housing insecurity, many of whom work jobs in businesses that have shut down and have laid-off/furloughed millions of formerly employed individuals? Many of these households consequently face an uncertain future. Becoming homeless is now a very real and scary possibility for them.

More than 500,000 people across the U.S. are homeless, roughly 40% of whom are unsheltered (living on streets, parks, and other open spaces). The remaining 60% live in temporary homes, including cars, shelters, or doubled-up with family. In a recent Curbed piece, Alissa Walker described the many challenges that homeless individuals face in trying to protect themselves from COVID-19, including hand-washing and storing food, which are critical obstacles…

…The poorest 20% of U.S. households spend more than half their monthly income on rent. Any loss of income—say, food service workers having their hours reduced as fewer people patronize restaurants—will put these households behind on their rent, increasing their risk of becoming homeless.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2020/03/12/americas-inequitable-housing-system-is-completely-unprepared-for-coronavirus/amp/

From the laptop of JJK Places’ President:

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