YIMBY News for 5/20

[Eric Budd]

Colorado homelessness was flat overall in 2025, but it grew dramatically for some groups

Denverite

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KEYWORD SCORE: 31.84. affordable, affordable housing, development, downtown, growth, house, housing, housing and urban development, income, mobility, rent, urban

Homelessness among adults was flat, and may even have declined, around Denver and across the state in 2025. But that larger trend masks a troubling rise in homelessness for families and young people. That’s according to the 2025 State of Homelessness report from the Metro Denver Homelessness Initiative (MDHI). The group tracks and manages the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s homelessness funding and oversees the annual Point-in-Time Count. In the Denver metro area, 35,601 people experienced homelessness last year, according to data collected by MDHI. That’s the majority of the rou

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New House Infrastructure Bill Cuts Transit And Isn’t Great on Active Transportation: Advocates

Streetsblog Net

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KEYWORD SCORE: 30.05. affordable, bike path, development, house, multimodal, preservation, project, rent, transportation, urban, walk

The first draft of America’s next major federal transportation law threatens big cuts to transit and a mixed bag for active modes — and some advocates say it doesn’t even have significant guardrails to prevent President Trump from trampling on the handful of positive provisions it does have. Late on Sunday, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee released its version of the bill that will replace the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that expires on Sept. 30, sounding the starting bell on the marathon reauthorization process that many expect to stretch even past that loose deadline.

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Cherry Creek is doing better than your neighborhood

Denverite

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KEYWORD SCORE: 26.33. construction, development, downtown, housing, parking, parking lot, project, transportation, walk

There’s nowhere in Denver quite like Cherry Creek. (And not just because it’s probably the only neighborhood in town where people aren’t adhering to Denver’s uniquely casual fashion code.) While the rest of the city struggles to get companies back into vacant offices and customers into businesses, Cherry Creek North is putting up generational numbers. The area has a vacancy rate of less than 2% for offices and retail, bucking a national trend and contributing to a major tax benefit for the city, according to a report released by the Cherry Creek Alliance. The storefront at 2625 E 3rd Ave. in C

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How to Vote in a Judicial Election

YIMBY Law

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KEYWORD SCORE: 25.31. homeowner, housing, income, rent, renter, segregate, urban, yimby

It’s that time of the year — election season — and you might be faced with the dubious privilege of voting for a judge. For the conscientious voter, the judges’ section of the ballot is the most stressful, because no one has any idea who to vote for. Because YIMBY Law is a (c)(3), we can’t make endorsements, but we can give you some ideas for how to pick judges. *Avoid suburban judges, vote for judges who live in dense areas.* Judges are cagey about exactly where they live — because being a judge is dangerous! — but they will sometimes advertise being active in community leadership, or it migh

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Wednesday’s Headlines Aren’t All the Way Back

Streetsblog Net

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KEYWORD SCORE: 19.94. bike lane, development, house, mixed-use, parking, rent, transit-oriented, transportation, walk

- Transit agencies still haven’t fully recovered from the pandemic. In 2024 ridership was just 78% of 2019 levels, and only six of 31 commuter rail systems had matched their pre-COVID numbers. (Eno Center for Transportation) - Building more transit-oriented development is one way out of the death spiral. (Transportation for America) - High gas prices are bringing people back to public transit — at least, the ones in places with good enough transit that not driving is an option. ( Grist) - Unlike a lot of cities overseas, it’s tough to kick the car habit in the U.S. (Common Edge) - The Trump ad

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The Most Expensive Trip You Can Take is the One You Could Have Walked

Streetsblog Net

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KEYWORD SCORE: 19.63. affordable, bike lane, house, income, mobility, rent, transportation, walk

Editor’s note: A version of this article originally appeared on KRWG Public Media. It is republished with permission. Rising fuel prices may feel like an economic burden — but they also reveal a larger issue about how communities are designed. For decades, many American cities prioritized cars over people. As a result, families now spend large portions of their income simply moving from one place to another, even for trips that could reasonably be walked or biked if proper infrastructure existed. *But what if part of the solution is not simply cheaper gas? What if the solution is giving people

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Colorado 2026 legislative roundup: The preschool, K-12, and higher education bills that passed and failed

Colorado Public Radio

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KEYWORD SCORE: 19.52. construction, development, house, housing, income, project, rent

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat . Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters . By Jason Gonzales, Melanie Asmar, and Ann Schimke, Chalkbeat Colorado lawmakers avoided cuts to the core of public education funding this legislative session despite facing a significant budget shortfall. But with more financial challenges likely in the years ahead, it’s now on voters to decide whether public schools deserve more dollars than the status quo. A November ballot measure referred by lawmakers in Senate Bill 135 will ask voters if the state can keep part of their tax refund to

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Why We Should Treat Households as Energy Infrastructure

Governing

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KEYWORD SCORE: 18.95. affordable, development, growth, house, project, rent, single-family

Across the country, communities are pushing back against rising electricity bills, massive utility spending plans and waves of new data center development that consume energy, land and water while offering few visible local gains. As utilities pursue one of the largest energy investment cycles in generations, state lawmakers are increasingly caught between rising demand and households asking a simple question: What’s in it for us? So far, the dominant answer has largely been promises of future reliability, fuzzy plans around economic growth, and systemwide benefits while households continue ab

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