As a guest of Laurie Albright, Secretary of the Boulder Housing Partners Foundation, I was treated to an eye-opening tour of some of our Boulder Housing Partners’ affordable communities. What a delight to see first-hand the really consequential work of BHP and its Foundation!
We visited with moms, seniors aging in place, and we watched kids doing projects and getting homework help. All of the residents we talked with shared heartening stories about the community they’ve built, the services they’re so thankful for, and the critical role BHP and the Foundation have played in their lives.
I’ve been in lots of conversations about how Boulder and our state can possibly accommodate all the people moving in, and how the people doing a lot of the work here - retail workers, baristas, teachers, firefighters, etc. - can live in an expensive place like Boulder. Quietly, efficiently, and for decades, BHP and the Foundation have been creating and managing and providing services for 37 different communities nestled within our city, and hundreds of more housing units are already in the works! We visited and heard from some of the resident leaders of a senior community (95 housing units!) in the heart of downtown Boulder that I’ve driven past countless times without having any idea it was there. The map below is a screenshot from BHP’s 2022 Annual Report, and I include it because I don’t think many people are aware of the wonderful fact that low income families, seniors, people with disabilities, people who’ve previously been unhoused, and others are already our neighbors.
As Boulder and our state grapple with housing availability for a growing population, and an increasing number of Coloradans slip economically and need housing assistance, it’s gratifying to know that there are agencies like BHP that know what they’re doing and are already contributing meaningfully to the solutions.
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