AURORA, Colo. — An empty lot adjacent to Mountain View United Church is now bustling with construction.
"We had about two acres of vacant land that we've been struggling with for years, what to do with that," said Wayne Laws, the now-retired minister of social justice and mission for Mountain View United Church.
Back in 2018, he started looking into how to share the church's land with the community. Empty land is not easy to come by and is typically expensive in the crowded Denver metro area.
"It's important to us to build in metro Denver in places where families are going to have a reasonable commute to work and school," said Laura Willetto, director of communications for Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver. "We're looking for land in the five-county metro area, and that can be difficult to find."
The church and Habitat for Humanity eventually connected. The church agreed to provide the land, while Habitat for Humanity agreed to construct affordable housing on it.
"Affordable housing is one of the prime ways to build generational wealth, to break the cycle of poverty, and so we found this as our opportunity to use that land to," Law said.
After a first-of-its-kind rezoning process in Aurora, Habitat for Humanity began construction on 20 duplexes that people could buy at affordable mortgages.
"We agreed to a 99-year land lease with Habitat," Law said. "Part of that lease is they would build the affordable houses. We would provide the land at no cost."
The rezoning process was contentious. Long-time neighbors like Mohamed Atwi had their concerns, but he said he's also happy for his new neighbors.
"There isn't enough space for parking on both sides. That is the only problem I have," Atwi told Denver7. "There is so many people that are going to be on their cul-de-sac. I've seen their kids, they're playing, which is nice, very nice. I love it. The only issue is the traffic."
The mortgages for each home will be affordable.
"We're really trying to meet the need for kind of a missing middle housing gap that exists in the market where families are making consistent income and can afford a mortgage, but not a mortgage at the typical market rate," Willetto explained.
The homes will also stay affordable for generations to come.
"The deed for each of these homes includes what we call an affordability covenant, and that basically says that the family who is purchasing the home right now in 2025 is able to purchase it at an affordable rate, but then when they go to sell their home — hopefully 10, 20, years down the line — the deed says that at that time of sale, the home cannot be resold at market rate," Willetto said.
There is a calculation that allows the home to appreciate in value, but it must also be sold at a rate that is considered affordable at the time of the sale.
Church leaders hope it might inspire other faith leaders with extra land to take another look at their properties.
"It's just a beautiful opportunity to do good for your neighbors throughout the Denver metro area," said Reverend Dr. Tracy Hughes, lead minister at Mountain View United Church.
