The majorly hyped and probably mostly-for-show quest for Amazon’s new headquarters location this past year was not the first time that the merits and faults of U.S. cities have been compared and ranked, but the cutthroat competitiveness of the “HQ2” contest certainly raised the stakes. Many of the nation’s most expensive cities are centers of tech innovation, and the resulting prosperity of cities like Seattle and San Francisco have also led to prohibitively high housing costs alongside increasing homelessness. As Denver’s prominence in the tech world and its desirability as a city also rises, similar problems abound: in a recent article, the Kansas City Star used “Denverification” essentially as a synonym for gentrification. Cities are increasingly looking to one another as examples of how not to be.
A December article in The New York Times entitled “Happy New Year! May Your City Never Become San Francisco, New York or Seattle” described the dread with which booming cities look at other booming cities: Seattle doesn’t want to become San Francisco, San Francisco doesn’t want to be New York and Kansas City apparently doesn’t want to be Denver. The Star article describes the trend of young professionals in Kansas City being priced out as developers move into lower-income neighborhoods and apartments go for market rate rents. Residents’ message to Kansas City is to “stop the Denverification,” referencing the similar processes that have gone on here as well.
Though policy changes in Denver over the past years have emphasized an affordable housing fund to address the high rents in the city, Denver is experiencing a shortage of housing that is affordable to low-income but also middle-class families and individuals. Denver’s attractiveness is not difficult to understand: cutting-edge jobs in tech and science are available here, the weather and proximity to the mountains are pluses and we have cultural amenities to rival many other cities. Discussions about Denver lately don’t usually happen without mention of the dizzying rate of growth in the metro area.
But just as Denver doesn’t want to be tantamount to gentrification, we also need to think about what we are other than a growing city, because that won’t always be true. The general consensus among economists in the state is that an economic slowdown is projected in the coming year, and we’re at a point now where a recession on the horizon is coming into view. The days of Denver’s mega-expansion will come to an end, and social and economic sustainability are going to have to become even bigger priorities.
If the Denver housing market cools off, we might not have to worry as much about becoming Seattle or San Francisco-like, but we can use our time in the limelight to think about ways to give “Denverification” more positive connotations. We can work to preserve existing affordable units in the city, fund additional units, continue coordinating prevention and rapid rehousing for homeless people, be a leader in green technology such as electric buses and encourage access to the arts with events like free days at museums. The dynamic of Denver metro growth is soon to change, and it is a good time to be forward-thinking and hopeful in what our city can achieve.
