In the lead-up to the Nov. 3, 2026, election, Boulder Reporting Lab asked each of the 19 mayoral and city council candidates to answer our questionnaire. Their answers are presented in a random order, but you can jump to each candidate’s responses, listed alphabetically below.
Mayoral candidates: Taishya Adams • Aaron Brockett • Jameson “Jamo” Goldstein • Aquiles La Grave
City council candidates: Benita Duran • Sam Fuqua • Jill Grano • Rachel Rose Isaacson • Ryan Jamieson • Tina Marquis • Dave Martus • Scott Rendleman • Jamillah Richmond • Ryan Schuchard • Tara Winer
Four candidates — Lisa Ann Jacobs, Fred Smith, Lee Gilbert and Lynn Segal — did not respond to BRL’s questionnaire.
Last month, Boulder Reporting Lab asked readers to submit questions for Boulder’s city council candidates. Of more than 200 respondents, nearly half wanted to hear about affordable housing. That should be no surprise in a city where housing routinely ranks among the biggest concerns.
In 2024, the median cost of a single-family home in Boulder was $1.37 million, which rough estimates suggest would require a household income of about half a million dollars. The City of Boulder estimates 70% to 80% of Boulder’s workforce — about 70,000 people — lives outside the city.
Several readers wanted to know how candidates proposed creating more affordable housing for people who work in the city, like firefighters, teachers and CU staff and faculty. Others inquired about seniors on fixed incomes or families with young children.
The Boulder City Council has taken a series of incremental steps over the past few years to increase the city’s housing supply. It has loosened rules to make it easier to build accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, and allow duplexes and triplexes in neighborhoods where they were once banned. It also eliminated minimum parking requirements, which can drive up construction costs, and repealed limits on how many unrelated people can live together.
The candidates broadly argue that Boulder’s housing rules and approval processes need work, with many calling for an overhaul of Title 9, the city’s land-use code. Some also want to allow more duplexes, triplexes, ADUs and other “missing middle” housing, with several emphasizing the need for new development that produces homes affordable to families and Boulder’s workforce.
Several candidates also support developing at least part of the Area III Planning Reserve, often citing the Holiday neighborhood as a model. Others emphasize infill, housing near transit or the use of city-owned land. Proposals also include land trusts, down-payment assistance, deed-restricted ownership, public financing and partnerships with nonprofit developers.
Question: Market-rate homes are out of reach for many teachers, nurses, police officers and firefighters. What would you do to create more housing these middle-income residents can afford? What regulations, if any, would you change to lower the cost of building or renovating homes?
Mayoral candidates
Jamo Goldstein
People who teach our children, care for patients, and protect our neighborhoods should be able to live here. I would expand the supply of homes at different price points, including apartments, duplexes, triplexes and accessory dwelling units, while preserving meaningful neighborhood input.
For ADUs, I want a predictable approval path that takes under a month once an application is complete. Notify neighbors early, allow a short period for concerns, and use mediation to resolve specific problems instead of letting the process drag on indefinitely. I also support Boulder’s affordable housing programs and would examine a tiered excise tax on large corporate rental portfolios to fund targeted rent assistance. We should measure whether each change actually brings down costs for residents.
Aaron Brockett
Aaron Brockett
Age: 53
I support additional rezonings to allow for denser housing along transit corridors. The data shows that most of the new apartments built in the last few years are affordable to people making around the Area Median Income, so we should continue to allow and encourage more of those to be built. Allowing for more middle-missing housing types can help allow for housing affordable to middle-income households – the Holiday Neighborhood where I live is a great example of that approach being successful.
But the high price of land in Boulder makes middle-income ownership housing to build, which is why I support moving forward with the annexation of the Area III Planning Reserve. Given the lower land prices there, if done right, annexing that land would result in the construction of many hundreds of middle-income affordable ownership housing.
Aquiles La Grave
Aquiles La Grave
Age: 47
We need more than just more housing; we need housing that will enable people to establish their lives in Boulder. My direction of housing reform is more “missing middle” housing, by eliminating unnecessary regulations. The next step needs to be to develop attainable homeownership opportunities, family-friendly homes, and small infill developments that are able to be processed through the entitlement process.
The failure of the middle income down-payment program should give us insight into whether providing assistance to purchase a home while restricting the ability to create wealth through ownership makes Boulder more affordable. Housing policy cannot exist independently of school systems or other city services. A family evaluates the entire package. Can I afford the house? Is there a school within walking distance? Are there recreational facilities, and child care options? Do I feel secure living here?
Taishya Adams
Taishya Adams
Age: 52
The evidence is clear that the demand for both permanently affordable housing and middle income housing are needed for those who live and work in our city. For too long we have prioritized luxury developments that have not provided sufficient cash in lieu to meet the growing demand for permanently affordable housing. This lack of working families has resulted in the closure of four elementary schools and declining sales tax revenue as other cities in our county see the opposite. With more affordable housing then we can impact the market long term, as we all know there is a housing supply issue in Boulder over all.
I will continue to advocate for a reworking of Title 9 to lower the barrier to entry without compromising environmental/climate resilience and safety. One example is making ADUs cheaper, easier, and more timely to build while also approving more density near transit corridors. We must find pathways to expedite permitting, approval timelines and inspections. Boulder’s Land Use code is identified as one of the most arduous in the country and it certainly slows down progress, but is that slow down serving the people? We can reduce costs for residents, homeowners, and builders by shortening the amount of time these approvals take, even while being mindful of our climate, fire, and culture goals.
City council candidates
Jamillah Richmond
Jamillah Richmond
Age: 42
The first thing I would do is open the planning reserve for additional development for a neighborhood of similar scope and scale to the Holiday or Palo Park neighborhoods.
Some of the plans call for nearly one-fifth of the planning reserve to be reserved for green space and parks. I would challenge that assumption, as the planning reserve is surrounded on three sides by open space.
Additionally, the city needs to make it easier for people to subdivide their properties, including making it legal to construct non-single family home structures. Ultimately, greater density is the key to creating more abundant housing options that are attainable for middle-income earners.
To make it easier to build, we of course need to change our zoning and land use codes. We need to make it easier to permit homes. To do this, I would like to see the city work with developers to create incentives for the construction of for-sale middle-income units, as opposed to the fee-in-lieu approach used currently.
In the long term, I think it is important that the city develop a long term plan to self-build deed restricted middle income housing that allows ownership opportunities for middle income families.
Ryan Schuchard
Ryan Schuchard
Age: 42
Use the city’s tools of municipal code, city-owned land, and intergovernmental partnerships to reduce barriers to the whole experience of building and living in middle-income housing.
I led on access-focused reform in the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan, built around 15-minute neighborhoods, which enables Boulder to rewrite Title 9, the code that turns plans into homes. This council also legalized duplexes, triplexes, and cottage courts, directly opening the door to more than 15,000 homes.
Priorities:
Reduce the cost of “place” by managing for people’s whole living experience. Integrate walkability and frequent nearby transit into land use planning, so a home delivers more value for what people pay. Explore evidence-based programming with BVSD and others to learn from residents’ real experiences, from families with kids to teachers and police officers, and adapt.
Legalize and finance a large new stock of diverse middle housing types. Align Title 9 with the new BVCP, dropping mandatory minimum lot sizes and allowing lot-splitting by right. Develop better ADU financing tools.
Tackle underlying cost drivers. Make development review more predictable. Where we develop public land like Area III, use its land value to support deed-restricted middle-income homes.
Tara Winer
Tara Winer
Age: 68
Our best opportunity is to bring another Holiday-type neighborhood to the Area 3 Planning Reserve. I have been talking about this since my first term in 2021, and it’s easier to put middle income housing there because land costs are cheaper. Through annexation agreements, the city can require middle income ownership housing in a way we can’t within the city limits.
I’d want what made Holiday attractive to middle-income residents: a large green space and playground, and beautiful architecture built around duplexes and triplexes. I want more resources behind our House-to-Homeownership program, which offers up to $100,000 toward a market-rate home with no resale restriction.
Regarding regulations, Title 9, our land use code, is complicated and confusing, and rewriting it needs to become a council priority. Regarding process, many perfectly good housing projects get pulled into Site Review: months of extra work, a concept review, back and forth with staff, a public hearing, then a planning board vote.
I want to fix the timeline, not the design standards. Permitting has gotten so complicated that people need to hire a consultant to get through it, adding cost to building or renovating a home. This needs to change.
Ryan Jamieson
Ryan Jamieson
Age: 46
Teachers, nurses, police officers and firefighters want to live here, and we want them here, but the reality is that the majority can’t afford a detached single family home here. What can work instead is attached housing like duplexes, triplexes, townhomes, condos, and apartments near where they work. Montgomery County, Maryland is a lesson in what’s possible: they built a revolving construction loan fund that’s grown to $100M and since cheaper public money is replacing private equity they’re building mixed income projects without relying on tax credits. I also think community land trusts need a comeback so we can take our really expensive land costs out of the equation.
On Regs, I want an in-house rewrite that lets far more projects proceed by right, following the themes outlined in the BVCP, but that is tied with limits on rentals and is neighborhood aware to address some unintended consequences we’re seeing play out given changes to state law. I want to shift our green mandates to incentives so we’re not driving up costs on the housing we most need and fix permits and reviews that increase costs through delays and arbitrary revisions.
Dave Martus
Dave Martus
Age: 59
Increasing middle-income housing is more challenging than low-income housing, which has more sources of matching funding. The first thing we should do is modernize Title 9 (land use code) and streamline the permitting process. These two steps will reduce building & financing costs, lowering the cost of ownership.
Successful models similar to Burlington’s (Vermont) Champlain Housing Trust provide a useful guide: Burlington has built and stewarded permanently affordable rentals, shared-equity homes, and cooperative housing by retaining community control of land and resale affordability. Boulder could utilize its inventory of land available after city staff transitions to the Western Campus to jump-start a program like this, with the base infrastructure already in place.
Additionally, we should explore mechanisms used in locations such as Eagle County, Frisco, and Steamboat, where municipalities partner with homebuyers to create permanently affordable middle-income housing. The main mechanism would be combining a purchase subsidy with a price-appreciation cap to keep homes affordable.
Jill Grano
Jill Grano
Age: 44
We need to get much more precise about housing than we have been. Too often, we get stuck on “build more or don’t build more.” But building more does not necessarily bring families back or create housing that our workforce can afford. We have built almost 4,000 units in the last decade, yet our non-student population has declined.
We need to look zone by zone at what’s getting built and who it’s serving. From there, we need to evaluate what’s getting in the way of the housing we need. We also have to work with CU to get more student housing built on or near campus. Student demand and investor interest mean some solutions on the Hill need to be different from those elsewhere.
Rewriting Title 9 is a top priority for me. We’ve layered on requirements and subjective reviews that favor big investors with time and capital over local owners. Our rules help shape capital flows, so we need to ask why certain zones keep producing luxury townhomes and condos, and what would encourage homes families and our workforce can afford. We also need to make smaller, owner-driven projects much easier.
Benita Duran
Benita Duran
Age: 65
First, housing IS the answer that addresses most of our current problems and we must change our approach to focus on all the considerable benefits to every resident today and tomorrow, and to every business, institution, non-profit organizations burdened by gentrification. I would seek to prioritize our processes for reviews and approvals to help see that these middle income housing opportunities get shovels in the ground. Not everything gets before council, so systems need to flow to help lower costs of waiting for that permit.
I would explore more support of land trusts and other vehicles for holding on to existing middle income housing stock and preventing more unaffordable scrape offs. Improving our processes for customers has to be a priority. Updates the Title 9 code will help provide the broader options approved in the BVCP. My goal here is a clearly articulated path to address the issue/need for market rate housing options.
Rachel Rose Isaacson
Rachel Rose Isaacson
Age: 29
Boulder needs homes that teachers, nurses, firefighters, police officers, and other working people can afford without leaving the community they serve. I would modernize our land-use code to allow more housing choices, including duplexes, cottage courts, ADUs, cooperatives, and smaller homes, especially near transit, jobs, and services. We should also use city-owned land and partnerships with nonprofit and mission-driven builders to create permanently affordable and middle-income housing.
Building costs matter. I would simplify conflicting land-use rules, make permitting requirements easier to understand, and set clearer review timelines. I would also make it easier to renovate or adapt existing buildings and add homes to underused commercial sites. Predictable rules can reduce delays and costs while maintaining standards for safety, accessibility, and environmental protection.
At the same time, new construction should not come at the expense of residents already struggling to stay. I would pair these changes with protections against displacement, preservation of existing lower-cost homes, and incentives for lasting affordability. My goal is a wider range of homes at a wider range of prices, so the people who keep Boulder running can build their lives here.
Scott Rendleman
Scott Rendleman
Age: 58
I would support policies that provide incentives to our first responders and our teachers to live in Boulder. We will need to build more missing middle housing, including duplexes, triplexes, smaller homes and homes with some land to appeal to the variety of buyers in this market. Development of this housing also could occur, carefully, in the Area III planning reserve. To reduce costs for these homes, I support review and revision of regulations that make smaller, moderately priced homes in order to make them easier to build.
I would also support developing relationships with area realtors or having an internal buyer’s agent available for first responders and teachers that would accept a reduced commission of 1.25%, similar to what happens in Boulder’s affordable home program.
Sam Fuqua
Sam Fuqua
Age: 62
Some options I support for creating more middle-income housing include:
- Support gentle in-fill development, especially along transit corridors
- Continue to study the possibility of development in the small portion of the Area III Planning Reserve that adjoins the city (the “urban edge”) for middle income housing.
- Expand and improve affordable mortgage and ownership opportunities, including land trusts and downpayment assistance programs
Given the general concern about the impact of current regulations on affordability and a new Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan, this is a good time for a full review of the city’s land use code (Title 9). This will take time and careful study–we shouldn’t rush it. But I don’t want this review process to completely eliminate our ability to be flexible with certain projects while the overall review is underway but not yet completed.
Tina Marquis
Tina Marquis
Age: 55
First, I have been listening to and working directly with the stakeholders involved for the last three years, including prospective buyers and renters, builders, architects, developers, lenders and the city’s affordable housing staff to understand the type of housing we need to create and the barriers to building them. Through the Boulder Comprehensive Planning update, we laid the groundwork needed to create more middle-income housing, such as cottage courts, small houses and duplexes.
Now, we need to change city processes that make it difficult and expensive to build middle-income housing, such as our permitting processes and when we collect fees. Finally, I support limited development in Area III adjacent to current city limits, focusing on housing types similar to those in the Holiday and Dakota Ridge neighborhoods.