Mayor Mike Johnston’s proposed affordable housing sales tax will go before voters this November.

The City Council has approved a ballot proposal that, if approved by voters, would provide $100 million a year for affordable housing, with a 0.5 percent sales tax. The council voted 9-4 on Monday to send the sales tax to voters, although there are still concerns about missing details in the final plan.

The sales tax will expire after 40 years. This was decided at the last minute by the city council on Monday with a vote of 12 to 1, as they feared exaggerations and did not know what the real estate market would look like in decades.

“In the early 2000s, we allowed developers to take advantage of our thriving communities and displaced me, my family and my community,” said Councilwoman Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, who voted for the measure. “We should have gotten a handle on this problem a long, long time ago. We’re trying to pick up the pieces.”

In a statement Monday, Johnston called the sales tax vote “an important step forward in ensuring that all Denver residents can live and thrive in our city.”

“We are thrilled and grateful that the City Council has officially put Affordable Denver in the hands of voters,” Johnston said.

Council members Flor Alvidrez, Kevin Flynn, Stacie Gilmore and Amanda Sawyer voted against the proposal, citing concerns that the proposal was ill-conceived, with numerous changes, and lacked a clear plan for how the funds would be spent.

Gilmore said she asked the mayor’s office to hold the plan until spring to work out more details.

“I will still oppose a vote because I take my responsibility for good governance very seriously and cannot explain to my voters what the impact will be,” she said.

The plan, called Affordable Denver, aims to create or preserve 44,000 income-restricted housing units over the next decade.

Johnston proposed the measure in early July, joined by a who’s who of community organizers and nonprofit leaders from across the city, as well as council members Shontel Lewis, Sarah Parady and Darrell Watson.

The mayor had just under two months to convince the city council to put the measure to a vote.

“Denver cannot afford to wait,” Johnston said in announcing the campaign.

He hopes the tax will create more affordable housing and prevent displacement even as Denver’s economy grows.

The new sales tax would provide housing for teachers, waiters, firefighters and other working-class and middle-class residents who have struggled to afford housing in the city. It would also nearly double the number of housing units Johnston promised during his campaign.

“We know that if we don’t do something, in 10 years all the Denverites will be gone,” he said. “They will be displaced, their prices will go down or they will move somewhere else. And that is a future we are not willing to accept.”

And Denver Really needs affordable housing.

An annual report released last week found that the total number of homeless people in Denver and the surrounding metropolitan area increased 10 percent compared to the previous year.

The sales tax would encourage housing, not fund homeless services. But in interviews with Denverite, nonprofit leaders attributed Denver’s continued rise in homelessness to a persistent shortage of affordable housing in the area.

Affordable housing is also a concern for voters.

In the spring, Colorado Public Radio and other media outlets surveyed state residents as part of the Voter Voices poll. Living affordability is a top concern for residents of all political persuasions.

At their State of the City event, members of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce cited housing affordability and child care as two of the region’s biggest needs.

When Denverite surveyed more than 100 residents about their biggest concerns in the city, housing affordability topped the list.

And a recent bipartisan poll by the Colorado Health Foundation found that more than 70 percent of Denver residents fear they will be forced to leave Colorado due to a lack of financial resources, and nine in 10 parents worry their children won’t be able to afford to live here.

Although there is a widespread belief that Denver has a lack of affordable housing, not everyone is convinced that Johnston’s plan is the right one.

Some critics argue that the tax is regressive and shifts the burden of financing new housing onto the working population who need the money.

Voters will already vote on a 0.34 percent sales tax to fund Denver Health, the city’s social hospital that has struggled with huge funding shortfalls in recent years.

In addition, there are numerous other sales tax increases that Denver voters have approved in recent years. This equates to a 30 percent increase in the sales tax since 2018. One of these taxes passed in 2020 was specifically aimed at combating homelessness.

“How many additional fees and tax increases does it take to make us affordable?” asked Councilman Kevin Flynn at a committee meeting last month. “That seems counterintuitive to me. And so I wonder where this ends?”

Business leaders are divided over the solution, with some calling on the government to take action, while others argue the city needs to slow down and develop the plan with more details before putting it to voters.

Other council members expressed concern that Affordable Denver had not worked out enough details.

Last week, council members introduced a dozen amendments to the plan. Eight of them passed, including one that would give the council more control over how the funds are spent.

On Monday, council members passed even more changes, including a plan to prioritize the use of funds and a compromise with the mayor’s office to eliminate the sales tax after 40 years.

“At $100 million a year for 40 years, that’s $4 billion. So if we can’t solve this in a generation and a half and with $4 billion, we can’t solve it,” said Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer, who introduced the amendment.

Another amendment by Council Member Shotel Lewis limits some of the funds to housing for people earning 80 percent of the area median income, which is $102,650 for a family of four in 2024.

The amendment would allow mixed-income developments with an average of 100 percent of the area median income, or $130,400 for a family of four. The bill also provides exemptions for homeowners and buyers earning up to 120 percent of the area median income, or $156,480 for a family of four.

This amendment was adopted by 9 votes to 4, despite concerns among some Council members that making the Fund too restrictive could have unintended consequences decades later.

Despite concerns about the details, a majority of council members concluded that the housing crisis was too bad to wait and see.

The final decision on sales tax will be made by voters in the parliamentary elections on November 5.

There are also a number of other ballot measures on the agenda, including a separate 0.35 percent sales tax increase to fund Denver Health. Some council members expressed concern that the affordable housing sales tax could interfere with the passage of the Denver Health sales tax.

But even council members who voted to pass the measure expressed concerns about the measure’s lack of details and tight timeline, saying that even if voters approve the sales tax, more work lies ahead.

“I will advocate for it to go into the fund, but we have to be honest. There are good intentions, but not the clarity and specificity that is needed,” said Council Member Jamie Torres. “I will support it. I will work to provide that clarity. And if it doesn’t happen, then I don’t think we’ll keep that fund, even though I’m here for three more years of this term.”