A Vote for Neighborhood Schools Is a Vote for Segregated Schools

There really is no way to sugar coat it.  Housing patterns as they are in Denver ensure that a public school system built on neighborhood schools will be economically and racially segregated.  And if you need to be reminded - segregated schools are inherently unequal.

Frankly, Denver elementary schools, for all practical purposes are "neighborhood schools." Almost all who attend these schools reside in the surrounding neighborhood.

Consequently, low-income neighborhoods with large populations of students of color have high enrollments of low income students of color in their elementary schools.  Likewise, neighborhoods with high income white families have elementary schools with students who are white and higher income.

The following graphs showing the attendance zones for Northeast Denver tell a pretty straightforward story.

As you can see, elementary schools with high percentages of students of color tend to attract even more students of color. Whereas  neighborhoods with low percentages of students of color tend to remain largely white.  This is important when you consider that the vast majority of students in the district are students of color.  The point is that even within the current choice system, the majority of students in the district - students of color - are increasingly segregated from white students.

It is the same story when you look at Free and Reduced Price Lunch Students in Northeast Denver.

Once again you can see that neighborhoods that have high percentages of free and reduced price lunch students tend to enroll even higher percentages of free and reduced price lunch students.

With the tendency of Denver Public Schools to further segregate themselves, we need to look at whether students in those schools are receiving a high quality education.   We looked at how Northeast Denver elementary schools performed in the DPS School Performance Framework.

While the differences among schools in Northeast Denver are not stark, they definitely indicate that higher income students and white students are far more likely to be in "Distinguished" or "Meeting Expectation Schools."

The differences in performance are even greater when you look at the district as a whole.  Currently there are 63 schools in Denver Public Schools that are either "Accredited on Probation," "Accredited on Priority Watch," or "Accredited on Watch."  The overwhelming majority of those schools have Free and Reduced Price Lunch rates that are at a minimum 70+% to many that are well over 90%.

Conversely, there are 25 schools that are categorized as "Distinguished." Of the distinguished schools that are district managed schools, the general percentage of students who are on FRL is between 3% and 35%.

The only exceptions to the equation of High FRL student enrollments = Lower Performing School are . . . wait for it. . . public charter schools or as some school candidates call "private corporate schools."
There are currently 9 public charter schools categorized as "Distinguished." Those schools have FRL rates that range from 52% to almost 99%.

As you consider DPS school board candidates that seek a return to neighborhood schools, you should consider how restricting choices for students who find themselves in low performing schools will impact their educational futures.

Eliminating or restricting the expansion of highly effective public charter schools would negatively impact the school district resulting in fewer options for all families and likely lower outcomes for students of color and low income families.

By the way, there are no private, corporate schools in the Denver Public Schools.  Charter schools are public schools that are authorized by the Denver Public Schools.   All Denver charter schools are accountable to the Denver Public Schools and the School Board.

Let me be clear.  The Denver Public Schools are far from perfect.  There are many things that need to be changed and improved, not the least of which are their approaches to community engagement.

However, at the end of the day you need to ask yourself whether a dramatic change away from providing options for all Denver families and returning to a policy of even more segregated public schools is the right direction for Denver students.

At a time when the issue of economic equity is at the forefront of our national dialogue, I encourage you to choose your representatives to the Denver Public Schools wisely.

No Vacancy: Is it too Late for Stapleton to be Integrated?

The Stapleton Development Plan created a vision for Stapleton to be an integrated community and the affordable housing plan ordinance agreed to by Forest City provides a blueprint for achieving housing diversity consistent with that vision.  However, construction to date has been so far off of the goals of the affordable housing plan that it may be time to ask:  Is it even possible for Stapleton to fulfill its vision of an integrated community?

As we discussed in our last post, the City of Denver entered into a specific agreement with Stapleton's master developer, Forest City to achieve specific goals for ensuring a diversity of housing options in 80238.  The following graph shows the specific targets for housing in Stapleton outlined in that plan:

However, as of the end of 2014 the actual distribution looks like this:

It is pretty clear that Stapleton is well behind its projected goals for rental housing and affordable housing in the affordable housing plan. When you combine the current distribution of housing with the fact that over 60% of new construction of for sale units are for homes over $400,000, it is easy to see why Stapleton is in the top 1% of zipcodes in the nation in terms of education and median income. 

The market rate for sale vs. affordable and market rate rental housing distribution is important because it provides middle income and lower income families the opportunity to live in Stapleton.  

So why hasn't SDC and Forest City not kept up with the goals?  It's not because of a lack of demand for rental housing. The current rental vacancy rate in Denver is at near historic lows.  According to the Denver Post, Denver has a rental vacancy rate of only 3.9%.  Consequently, rents are shooting up with the average monthly rent at $1145.00.  At that rate, a household with an annual income of $50,000 per year will need to dedicate somewhere between 35% and 40% of their take home pay to housing.  

These numbers beg a pretty serious question - Can Stapleton even achieve the goals for rental housing and affordable housing?  One thing is for sure - if Stapleton is to reach the goals, new construction is going to have to change drastically. 

According to The Big Picture document on StapletonDenver.com the overall plan is for a grand total of 12,000 homes - both for sale and rental in Stapleton.  With a little over 7,000 homes completed, Stapleton is about 60% of the way to reaching their target. 

If Stapleton is to achieve the goals of the Affordable Housing Plan - future construction will need to look something like this:

56% of new construction has to be rental units and 33% market rate for sale if Stapleton is to achieve the housing diversity goals.  Given current trends, it is hard to believe that this is going to happen. 

There is clearly money to be made building apartments and it goes without saying that there is plenty of demand for affordable for sale and affordable rental.  So the question is, why hasn't SDC and Forest City worked to meet this demand? It may be time to ask if SDC and Forest City can achieve the vision for integrated housing in the Stapleton Development Plan or is it time to declare failure and consider a new goal? 

As always, 80238 welcomes your thoughts.  Also, feel free to follow our facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/80238blog or on Twitter: @80238blog

Best Laid Plans: How Stapleton Became the 1%

As our first two 80238 posts have pointed out, Stapleton is in the top 1% of zipcodes in the country with regard to income and education and that Stapleton's demographics are in stark contrast to the surrounding Northeast Denver neighborhoods. So how did this happen in a community that was specifically designed to retain middle income families in the city of Denver and be integrated into the fabric of Northeast Denver?

One thing is for sure, it didn't just happen.  While the Stapleton Development Plan was just a plan, the management of the plan was and still is the responsibility of two primary actors, Stapleton Development Corporation (SDC) and Forest City, Inc. It has been the responsibility of these two organizations, one a public entity created by the City of Denver and the other a private company to serve as master developer.   The primary mechanism for creating the diverse community called for in the Stapleton Development Plan is Stapleton Development Corporation's authority to sell land to Forest City, that in turn would be sold to housing developers to build the homes that all Stapleton residents live in today.  Consequently, the diversity (or lack thereof) of housing in Stapleton is a direct result of the selling of land by SDC to Forest City and the extent that these exchanges have achieved the goals set forth in the plan.

The first and most obvious way to assess whether these two entities have achieved the goals of the plan is to look at the market rate sales prices for new houses built in Stapleton since 2002. This data is readily available in a report generated by Forest City for the SDC called A Comprehensive Snapshot: Where Housing and Affordable Housing Stands At Stapleton.   The latest update of the report came out in October, 2014 (the link is to the July, 2014 report - October is not online).

The following graph points out the obvious - it's expensive to live in Stapleton.  However, what the graph also shows is that it wasn't always this way.  In the early days there was a very wide price range - with the vast majority of houses being built between $200,000 and $400,000.  However, as the housing bubble built, prices rose precipitously to the point that today the vast majority of houses today are priced over $400,000.00.  

This rise in prices has essentially priced middle income families out of the market.  To illustrate this point, I found a mortgage qualification calculator online and did some basic calculations.  

I defined middle-income using Median Family Income as outlined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which is used in the Stapleton Affordable Housing Plan. To create a modest range of income levels I looked at what families could afford who had incomes that were between the median family income for Denver and 80% of the median family income.   Why these numbers? Because in Denver City Ordinance 20010148, passed in February, 2001, Forest City and the City of Denver agreed that 10% of homes for sale would be made available for families that earn no more than 80% of median family income. 

Using these incomes, I entered what a family with good credit could afford with 10% down and an annual percentage interest rate of 4%, property taxes consistent with current rates in Stapleton and modest debt of about $500.00/month.  The results are as follows:

                                                        Family Income                 House Price

80% Median Family Income                $62,240.00                       $234,000.00

100% Median Family Income              $77,800.00                       $333,000.00             

The graph makes clear that the percent of homes put up for sale in this price range is quite small relative to all homes built in 2014.  In fact, The Comprehensive Snapshot Report reveals that the Stapleton Development Corporation (SDC) and Forest City are falling well below their agreed upon target of 10% of homes for sale qualifying as affordable with only 4.67% of homes for sale in the 3rd quarter of 2014 meeting this standard. In addition, only 7% of homes built in 2014 were priced between $200,000 and $300,000.  Meanwhile the percent of homes for sale that are priced above $400,000 has skyrocketed to 64%.  

With these current trends, we are pricing out many people who we all rely on everyday. Among them are people with the following jobs and average incomes according to Indeed.com:

                                            Average Income

Teacher                                  $53,000.00

Fire Fighter                             $43,000.00

Denver Police                          $63,000.00

Registered Nurse                     $63,000.00

Day Care Provider                   $53,000.00

Computer Programmer            $64,000.00

What is most striking is that it is completely within our power and SDC's authority to create more housing diversity in Stapleton.   This very topic was discussed at the last Housing Diversity subcommittee to the Citizen Advisory Board to SDC.  SDC could decide tomorrow to sell Forest City housing sites with smaller footprints, which would necessitate the construction of homes with lower square footage and consequently lower sale prices.  

Nowhere else in Denver does a community have the power to decide who can and can not afford a home in our neighborhood. Market forces rule the day in most of Denver. But because of the SDC, we can choose. Indeed Stapleton is Different.  

We always welcome your comments about this blog - the goal is a community conversation.  Thanks to everyone who as chimed in so far.