Blueprint Denver Key Equity Concepts 2024

Introduction

Blueprint Denver is the first citywide land use plan in Denver to measure socioeconomic factors, like vulnerability to displacement.

 By including these measures in the adopted plan, we can tailor future programs and policies to the needs of each neighborhood. We can measure our progress at reducing inequities over time and we can use these concepts to promote more equitable outcomes from public and private investment.

About the data

The data used to measure access to opportunity, vulnerability to displacement, and housing and jobs diversity comes from multiple sources. It was aggregated to a common unit of measurement – either a 50-acre grid square or a census block group – that allows us to see the data patterns across the city.

 These maps will be updated with current data every year.

Access to Opportunity

As an equity concept, “access to opportunity” recognizes that not all neighborhoods offer their residents the same access to basic services, quality education, transportation options, healthcare services, healthy food, parks and more.

To measure access to opportunity, the city looks at each of these metrics and ranks them on a scale of 1 (less access) to 5 (more access):

  • Access to frequent or high-capacity transit
  • Access to commercial centers and corridors
  • and the individual scores of the Neighborhood Equity Index from Denver’s Department of Public Health and Environment (DDPHE), which includes these five scores:
    • social determinants of health (including educational attainment and income level);
    • access to first-trimester healthcare;
    • childhood obesity;
    • life expectancy;
    • and access to parks and full-service grocery stores (Built Environment)

For each neighborhood, the “Average Opportunity Score” is the combined average of the access to transit score, the access to corridors/centers score and the five DDPHE equity index scores.

See  Appendix C  for a more detailed methodology

Vulnerability to Displacement

When our existing residents and local businesses can no longer afford to stay in the neighborhoods they call home, we lose part of our rich cultural heritage and the diversity, inclusiveness and opportunity for all that we value.

To measure vulnerability to displacement, the city uses a vulnerability to displacement index from Denver Economic Development & Opportunity (DEDO). The index includes three components:

  • Median household income – is it lower than Denver’s median household income?
  • Percent of renters – is it higher than Denver’s percent of renters citywide?
  • Percent of population with less than a Bachelor's degree – do fewer people have a Bachelor’s degree than the citywide percentage?

While the index is an appropriate tool to understand this type of change at a citywide scale, neighborhood plans and local investments should include more detailed analysis in order to shape the most effective strategies to prevent involuntary displacement for that area.

See  Appendix C  for a more detailed methodology.

Housing Diversity

As a concept, “housing diversity” means a neighborhood can offer residents a variety of housing options to accommodate households of different ages, sizes and incomes.

To measure housing diversity, the city looks at how each of the metrics below compare to citywide averages.

  • Percent of middle-density housing (2-19 units)
  • Home size diversity
  • Ownership vs. rental
  • Housing costs
  • Number of affordable (income-restricted) units

Citywide averages used for comparison

Approximately 19% of Denver’s housing is “middle-density” (2-19 units).

Home size diversity is measured by comparing the number of housing units with 0-2 bedrooms to the number of units with 3 or more bedrooms. A diverse tract averages between .5 and 2.5 bedrooms per unit.

Approximately 50.6% of homes in Denver are rented and 49.4% are owned.

To calculate housing costs, the city looks at the ratio of housing units affordable to households earning up to 80% of the city’s median income to housing units affordable to households earning over 120% of the city’s median income. Citywide, this ratio is 1.69. 

Denver averages 151.5 income-restricted units per Census Tract.

See  Appendix C  for a more detailed methodology.

Jobs Diversity

Access to a range of quality jobs enables people of different incomes and education levels to find employment and wealth-building opportunities. To measure jobs diversity, the city looks at the number of jobs available and how the variety of these jobs compares to the variety of jobs citywide.

Citywide, Denver’s jobs are primarily in these industries:

  • Retail – 51.89%
  • Innovation (includes information, finance, education, arts, recreation, and more) – 37.54
  • Manufacturing – 10.58%

Areas that have a similar mix of retail, innovation and manufacturing are shown in purple on the map. Areas that have a different mix – for example, more innovation jobs than retail – are shown in a different color that corresponds to the predominant job type in that area.

For all neighborhoods, the opacity of the color reflects the number of jobs in the area. The darker the color, the more jobs per acre.

Using this map

Some areas of Denver will always have more jobs than others. Regional centers, especially downtown, have more employment options than residential areas and Blueprint Denver’s growth strategy calls for directing more of the job growth to regional centers in the future. Likewise, while it is natural for some parts of the city to contain a more prevalent job type, patterns of predominant job types can still be useful for informing policies and strategies to increase job diversity. For example, areas with a large share of retail jobs may benefit from other job types so that residents in that area have additional options if there is a slowdown in retail sales.

Block groups with less than 100 total jobs were not counted.

See  Appendix C  for a more detailed methodology.