East Colfax residents protest a luxury condo project by marching from New Freedom Park to the development site at 14th and Yosemite. Photo by Alesia Negusiea, from the East Colfax Community Collective

The soaring home values and increasing rent prices that Denver experienced over the last decade has facilitated a pattern of neighborhoods being gentrified and residents being displaced. A study from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition revealed that 27 percent of Denver neighborhoods are currently gentrifying and that Denver is the second-most gentrified city in the nation, just behind San Francisco.

Gentrification is prevalent throughout Northeast Denver, especially in Park Hill. Housing prices skyrocketed, the business community flourished, and in 2021 a Money Inc report ranked Park Hill the 8th wealthiest neighborhood in Denver. From 2015-2018 the average rent in North Park Hill increased by 76 percent, which was the second-largest spike in the city behind Indian Creek. Although a thriving community can be a positive development, the failure to also maintain affordable options displaced many long-time residents from their homes and sparked a demographic shift in the neighborhood. U.S. Census data analyzed by Front Porch demonstrates that from 2010-2020, the Black population in North Park Hill declined by 17 percent and the neighborhood transitioned from a majority-minority to a majority-white community.

This reflects the common pattern of gentrification having a disproportionate impact on minority communities and especially Black residents. “It goes to the segregation theory that Black households have been segregated because of economic discrimination,” says Dr. Tim Thomas, a UC-Berkeley researcher and director of the Urban Displacement Project. “Wealthier folks are moving into these areas, increasing the costs, and preventing low-income households from being able to afford to live there. That bears on the backs of Black households in particular because the legacy of discrimination means very few of them can afford to still live in those spaces.”

The Urban Displacement Project is one of the leading authorities in the nation for data on gentrification. Operating from UC-Berkeley and the University of Toronto, their data is often utilized by local and state governments to identify gentrification patterns and implement effective policies. The geographical data specifies the degrees of gentrification occurring within every tract of a city.

In Northeast Denver, the neighborhoods that are currently undergoing “advanced” gentrification include Mayfair, Montclair, and East Colfax. Lowry is performing the best of any NE neighborhood, according to the data from the Urban Displacement Project. Lowry has achieved an ideal balance of mixed-income housing, has avoided experiencing any gentrification, and is the only neighborhood in Northeast Denver that increased its Black population.

Central Park has never experienced gentrification, as the neighborhood has been affluent since its inception and Money Inc ranks Central Park as the wealthiest neighborhood in Denver.  However, Central Park becoming an “exclusive” community renders its surrounding neighborhoods more susceptible to gentrification. “Exclusive areas tend to be a lot wealthier and whiter, and many people can’t get into those areas because of the high costs,” says Dr. Thomas. “People who want to move close by go into the affordable houses in cheaper areas, but then you might see businesses targeting those areas to make investments, flip houses, or revamp buildings.”

The loss of cultural identity is a frequent hazard in gentrified neighborhoods. People who have lived in their communities for generations often foster strong relationships with the residents and harbor deep affinities for the neighborhoods. But replacing the long-time residents with new populations can alter the features of the communities and erode the camaraderie of the residents. “That cultural shift is significant,” says Thomas. “When the people you’re pushing out grew up in the neighborhoods, you’re pushing out its heart and soul. Then the newcomers might have different political or social interests that completely change the landscape of the neighborhood.”

The East Colfax neighborhood is currently trying to protect its cultural identity from that kind of advanced gentrification. While East Colfax has a large minority and immigrant population, rising housing costs are gentrifying the neighborhood, displacing the residents, and changing the cultural dynamics. The East Colfax Community Collective (EC3) has been trying to alleviate this issue. Founded in 2018, the member-led EC3 supports the East Colfax and Northwest Aurora neighborhoods by assisting displaced individuals and by advocating for affordable housing policies.

“When new developments present themselves on the East Colfax corridor, the landlords in the area also shift their treatment towards the tenants and try to increase the rent,” says EC3 Community Organizer Nadeen Ibrahim. “We’re also seeing the demographics quickly change within the community, which is unfortunate because East Colfax was a safe haven for a lot of resettled refugees who have established communities here.”

A new luxury housing development called Ambience exemplifies this problem. Ambience will be built on Yosemite Street and East 14th Avenue, and the project plans to provide 44 condos that will cost over $600,000. Project developer Aman Kochhar did not respond to a request for comment.

EC3 adamantly opposes this project. “Ambience causes great harm to the community,” says Ibrahim. “It’s completely inaccessible to anybody that’s living within the immediate community, so there’s no affordability aspect within the development. There’s a grave risk of property taxes being increased, landlords pushing out their tenants, and an income demographic shift with more redlining to create the kind of community they want.”

Last October, EC3 coordinated a protest against the Ambience project. Two hundred protestors marched from New Freedom Park to the development site. Residents held signs written in diverse languages, leaders delivered speeches to the cheering crowd, and protestors shouted chants to display the unity of the neighborhood and express their grievances with the project. “That was a special community space,” exclaims Ibrahim. “I get re-energized when I see that passion and love for East Colfax, when I see everybody standing for each other, and when I see that everything that makes us different no longer matters because we’re all advocating for the same thing.”

EC3 also helped file an appeal to curtail the development. Although the Aurora Planning and Zoning Commission had already approved the project, the Aurora City Council had the power to reverse that decision and prohibit the development. At the Nov 15 meeting, many East Colfax residents gathered to protest the project and testify to the council, but in a 7-4 decision the council voted to deny the appeal and approve the project. “It was extremely disheartening because it’s the constituents of the City Council members that are directly impacted,” says Ibrahim. “Rather than siding with the interests of their immediate constituents, they sided with the interests of corporations and private developers.”

EC3 is now focused on housing policies that can help East Colfax protect residents and reduce gentrification. “We have members of our team working on a down payment assistance program, and then we have another aspect of our team working on a mixed-income neighborhood model.”

Dr. Thomas from the Urban Displacement Project also recommends certain strategies that can maintain the features of neighborhoods and prevent the displacement of residents. “One simple recommendation is the Three P’s of protecting tenants, producing affordable housing, and preserving existing affordable housing,” says Thomas. “If cities adopt that model, it would help prevent displacement and enable future generations to benefit from not being pushed around all the time.”