Developers of taxpayer-funded affordable housing must pay workers on the projects at least the same amount as others who do the same type of work in the region under updates to an ordinance the City Council approved this week.
The update to Denver’s , approved Monday, comes after the city attorney’s office issued a memo last year stating that the city mandate to pay higher wages didn’t apply to affordable housing projects built on private land, even if the city was funding the work. That was in disagreement with , which enforces the ordinance.
“I think this law is really based on the idea that the people who are literally building the city with taxpayer dollars should be able to live in the city and thrive in the city,” said Matthew Fritz-Mauer, the executive director of Denver Labor in the auditor’s office.
But the clarification could mean that affordable-housing-project costs grow more expensive, said Jonathan Cappelli, executive director of the Neighborhood Development Collaborative.
“It does one of three things: It either increases the subsidy needed for the project, which means more money requested from the city; or it means increasing the (tenant income guidelines) in the project to pay for that gap; or it means fewer units,” he told a council committee in April.
Jon Ewing, a spokesman for Mayor Mike Johnston, said his administration would adhere to the updates.
“We’re committed to ensuring people are paid a fair wage and that we’re building enough affordable housing to meet the needs of our city,” he said. “We can and will do both.“
Denver’s prevailing-wage laws have been in place since 1950 and were updated in 2016 and 2023.
Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer sponsored this month’s clarifying bill, which didn’t make substantive changes to the ordinance but broke it into smaller, more understandable pieces. She spoke to council members who were in office when the council made major updates in 2016.
“Every single one of them said yes — that their intention was that for private projects where the city is investing dollars, prevailing wages should be paid,” she said.
“I am a legislator, and for the executive branch and the administration to be insinuating this is very untrue and false,” Councilwoman Stacie Gilmore said, referring to city attorney’s interpretation of the ordinance. She was on the council when it passed the 2016 changes. “I lived the intent, and I remember it all crystal clear.”
Under prevailing-wage rules, construction workers on residential projects make $19.21 to $21 per hour, Fritz-Mauer said. More-specialized workers, like electricians, make up to $33 an hour. The auditor’s office sets the prevailing wages based on studies of similar work within the region.
The law also includes requirements for certain benefits, like healthcare and sick leave.
The ordinance change won’t apply to 12 housing projects currently in the queue to be built.
