Denver Mayor Mike Johnston attended the Northfield Flats ribbon cutting in December. The apartments are available to households earning 30–80 percent of Denver’s median income. Front Porch photo by Christie Gosch

In December, a room filled with city leaders, developers, and affordable housing advocates gathered to celebrate the grand opening of Northfield Flats, a 129-unit apartment building at 4545 Xenia St., next to the Shops at Northfield.

Mayor Mike Johnston says projects like this one are a way to keep people living and working in Denver with a home they can afford.

“We want it to be seamlessly integrated into the rest of the community…this is my neighborhood. I will be in and out of all the same shared public spaces that the residents here will be, and they will be fully interwoven into the neighborhood in a way that is exactly what we’re aspiring for affordable housing to look like, feel like, and accomplish.”

The Denver Department of Housing Stability (HOST) provided $4,515,000 in financing for the project. Johnston says he wants to see affordable housing in every neighborhood and has what he calls a very ambitious goal of trying to bring 3,000 affordable units to the city in the next year to support the “working folks who are fighting hard to be able to pay the rent with jobs all around these neighborhoods. And we know they want to stay in Denver.”

Left: Northfield Flats apartments, located next to The Shops at Northfield, are now open for leasing. Center: The community room at the apartment complex is open to all residents. Right: Each of the 82 two-bedroom apartments features a spacious kitchen with large island. Front Porch photos by Linda Kotsaftis

Northfield Flats features 42 one-bedroom units, 82 two-bedroom units and 4 three-bedroom units, along with a large community room and a fitness center. The units are available to households earning between 30 and 80 percent of the median income.

Johnston noted the facilities are nicer than ones found in market rate buildings. He adds he’s optimistic about Denver right now and the opportunity for the city to be one of the fastest growing economic engines in the country, and “also a place where your second-grade teacher can still afford to live in the community where she teaches.”