Sun Valley Reimagined - A Public Housing Transformation

In 2010, the City of Denver, with the Denver Housing Authority (DHA) and crucial nonprofit partners, received HUD-DOT Challenge and Tiger II Grants to plan for and implement a new vision for development along Denver’s portion of RTD’s West Line. The grants funded a laser-focused effort to envision the future of the Sun Valley neighborhood, Denver’s most impoverished zip code in the shadow of the Broncos Stadium. The effort, named the Denver Livability Partnership, incorporated transit-station area planning, a healthy-food access study, a $2 million affordable housing fund, and collaborative planning with partners and jurisdictions along the west line.

At the heart of the effort, DHA created a transformational master plan for its property to deliver housing and land development that would not only maximize its investment, but also leverage the city’s planned capital investments in local stormwater and parks planning along the South Platte River.

DHA received a HUD Choice Neighborhoods Planning grant in 2014 and a subsequent Choice Neighborhoods Implementation grant in 2016, which launched the implementation phase. Sun Valley is quickly becoming a template for the development of affordable communities with integrated services and support, job training to achieve progress in economic mobility, and physical planning that builds access to opportunity.