The vibrant, working class Denver, Colorado neighborhoods of Globeville, Elyria, and Swansea have welcomed immigrants and others to their community since the 1800s. While the entire state has benefited from the regional transportation and industrial infrastructure located in these neighborhoods, it has been at the expense of the health and well-being of the residents of these communities. They feel that public investment and governmental decisions have caused local residents harm and failed their neighborhoods for more than a century.
Now, community members in Globeville and Elyria-Swansea want to raise between $2 million and $3 million in the next year to start a modest demonstration project that could provide the model for stopping displacement in these predominantly Latino and low-income neighborhoods.
The GES Coalition Organizing for Health and Housing Justice wants to start a community land trust, a practice that has helped preserve affordable housing in changing neighborhoods around the country. By owning the land underneath the homes, this type of land trust can prevent the rapid appreciation that ends up driving out long-term residents when neighborhoods see an influx of newcomers and investment.
The Globeville, Elyria-Swansea Coalition Organizing for Health and Housing Justice is a group of resident leaders and community organizations working to align community health and the well-being of our neighbors by advocating for and organizing around preventing displacement of our neighbors, activating resident-driven leadership, protecting historically marginalized neighborhoods, preserving affordability in housing, and promoting a culture that welcomes neighbors who value our longstanding culture, interconnectedness, and commitment to equity.
A recent report sponsored by the GES Coalition found that “Given the option GES residents want to stay in their community (80 percent), but absent intentional policy and advocacy this will be an unrealized dream. Projects like the I-70 expansion, National Western Center, and RTD’s A Line, are having a substantial impact on the market, as is private speculative real estate transactions.”
Here’s the GES Coalition’s stated vision: “The vision of the coalition is based on neighborhood leaders and community organization’s individual and shared commitment to economic and environmental justice. By leveraging our collective networks and resources through collective and cooperative governance, coalition activities are driven by resident membership and community-based grassroots organizing. Our vision is neighbor-to-neighbor and community-driven. We are organizing because the health of our families cannot be separated from the well-being of our neighbors.”
The GES Coalition is working with Grounded Solutions, which has worked on land trusts around the country, as well as the Colorado Community Land Trust, which runs land trusts in Lowry and Cole, to understand the requirements of such an entity, establish a community governance structure and get off the ground.
See Denverite article by Erica Meltzer.
See GES Coalition website + photo credit.
Download July 2017 report on displacement in these neighborhoods (PDF).