One solution to Denver's housing shortfall? Living with 18 roommates.
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DENVER — Tamika Cox has always wanted at least a dozen roommates. Soon, she’ll get her wish.
Cox is one of five tenants approved by the Boulder Housing Coalition — which manages four affordable housing co-ops in Boulder — to join The People’s Mansion, a permanently affordable housing co-op in Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.
The house, formerly called the Starkey Mansion, was built in 1901 as a single-family home. In the 1990s, it became a school for butlers, said Annemarie Parsons, Boulder Housing Coalition director of operations.
The Denver Department of Housing Stability gave the BHC a $1 million grant towards the $2.5 million home. The rest was funded through loans and donations. Parsons said the BHC closed on the home Dec. 6.
A psychology student at Naropa University, Cox’s studies have centered around conflict resolution and creating community.
“Now I get to put all of that into practice,” Cox said as she stepped into her future bedroom inside the People’s Mansion.
Tenants like Cox who have already been approved to move in will decide which applicants get to join them in the 19-bedroom, 11,500-square-foot mansion.
The mansion will eventually have 19 tenants — one per bedroom. Five tenants will begin moving in this week, and the others will slowly be approved while the BHC continues to remodel the house, prepare bedrooms and ensure certain parts of the house are up-to-date on fire safety codes.
Though the mansion is a first of its kind for Denver, more than 1.5 million people in the United States live in an affordable co-op, according to Housing Cooperatives for a Better World, a co-op advocacy nonprofit.
The co-op’s existence is made possible by a law passed in 2024 banning caps on the number of nonrelatives who could live under the same roof. The People's Mansion is accepting applications at a time when the state can't build housing fast enough. According to reporting from The Denver Post, Colorado trails only California in terms of housing shortfalls.
The People’s Mansion tenants will use a decision-making consensus model to decide on house rules, such as pet and visitor policies, and how sharing meals and using the kitchen could work.
Lincoln Miller, BHC executive director, said tenants must be between 30% to 80% of the Denver Area Median Income, meaning they earn between $27,000 and $72,000 each year. Those conducting interviews are encouraged to choose roommates of different ages, races, genders and life experiences.
The lowest rent for the People’s Mansion is $584/month. The most expensive rent is $1,180/month.
“I love that I don’t have to worry that in two years they’re going to be raising the rent on me, and then I have to look for housing all over again,” Cox said.
Cox graduates from Naropa University in May and hopes to work as a full-time therapist specializing in serving Black LGBTQ+ people. She currently lives in the school’s student housing and loves being surrounded by other people. She hopes the co-op can be a place for roommates to learn from each other, solve problems together and embody a different style of living than what would be found in a one-bedroom apartment.
“I think our current political climate has forced us all to be more individualistic and so apart from everyone else because then we see others as our enemies instead of as our allies,” Cox said. “I want to really use this as a space to build community.”
Carrie Spanton knows this co-op is making history, and she’s excited to usher in what she hopes is a new wave of different housing styles in Denver.
“I’ve lived in a lot of apartment buildings where I had no idea who lived on either side of me,” Spanton said. “To be together in a shared space with 19 people of totally different backgrounds is such a unique concept for Denver and we get to set the precedent for what this can look like.”
Spanton, who is 47 years old, spent years working in restaurant jobs after graduating high school. After giving birth to her son in 2003, Spanton earned a degree in hospitality from Rockhurst University in Kansas City before receiving a master’s of public administration at Cornell University. She now works as the residence coordinator at the Colorado State Governor’s Residence at Boettcher Mansion.
“You learn so many things from people who have different backgrounds and I’m excited to learn from everyone,” Spanton said. Her 22-year-old son has also applied to live in the co-op.
“It’s not just a collaborative way of living where we’re making group decisions but we’re also creating governance,” Spanton said.
Spanton and Cox both said they did not have reservations about living with 18 people. The vetting process is thorough and fair, they felt, and they know conflict is inevitable. That’s part of the point.
“Being able to work through problems and challenges as a community is such a great opportunity for learning and growth,” Spanton said.
The two are looking forward to movie nights, cooking classes led by roommates and field trips and tours of the governor’s mansion and state capitol, led by Spanton.
Hopeful tenants said the co-op was appealing because of its permanent affordability.
“I really believe in decomodified housing that is truly affordable for everyone, and I want that to be abundant,” said Dani Slabaugh.
Slabaugh is nonbinary and wants to live around roommates who will respect their identity. Based on the tenants they’ve met, Slabaugh is confident the People’s Mansion will meet that criteria.
“It’s inspiring of a different world where affordable housing is spectacular and full of diversity and inclusion,” Slabuagh said. “Not this austerity that we often think of when we think of affordable housing.”
Slabaugh noted the rich irony in the mansion’s transformation — from a school for butlers to affordable housing.
“The fact that we have the opportunity to take a place like this and repurpose it for the collective good and for communal well-being and to show the community that this can be an example of what's possible is really great,” Slabaugh said.
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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