Author: Jill Gaebler
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Providing affordable housing for lowest-income workers vital to city | Jill Gaebler
Everyone needs a place to lay their head and to call home. A place where they feel safe and comfortable and from where they can build their lives in whatever way brings them fulfillment. This is a simple statement to compose, but living out these words is fraught and complicated. Despite often repeated aspirational affirmations,…
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Colorado Springs sees rising need for rental housing | Jill Gaebler
Much of our work at Pikes Peak Housing Network involves advocating for proposed housing developments. As a pro-housing nonprofit, we support all types of housing construction, because we want residents to be able to find homes in all areas of our city that are close to their work and fit their family size and family…
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Colorado Springs cottage court development comes with many benefits | Jill Gaebler
Every home represents an opportunity. An opportunity for a young family to put down roots. For a teacher to live near the students they serve. For a military family to stay in the community after service. For a retiree to remain close to children and grandchildren. A home provides stability, security and the foundation from…
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Homebuilders working to ease affordability crisis for first-time buyers | Jill Gaebler
Those of us with younger family and friends know how difficult it is for these residents to purchase a home. Because home prices have soared over the past 10 years — from 4 to 5.6 times the median income — more of our younger community members are renting homes longer while they increase their incomes…
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Building code change will reduce housing costs without reducing safety
A new Colorado law was passed in 2025 mandating cities with over 100,000 residents to modify their building codes to remove the requirement for the construction of duplicative or second staircases in small multifamily developments. This law will take effect for all large cities on Dec. 1, 2027. Pikes Peak Housing Network supports this code…
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Making the fiscal case for infill development
Over the past several years, El Paso County and Colorado Springs have experienced the ongoing tension between building housing within the interior, or infill areas, of Colorado Springs or expanding housing development onto the outer boundaries of the city or even annexing new land for new housing. This tension can be healthy if both housing…
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Latest housing report offers some positive signs for Pikes Peak region
Jill Gaebler Special to The Gazette The Pikes Peak Housing Network (PPHN) recently released its 2025 State of Housing report, an eight-page document containing year-over-year housing data that can be used to better understand the facts surrounding our ongoing housing affordability crisis. Presented in a simple format, this report is a useful tool for housing…
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GUEST COLUMN: Rent control is a failed housing policy
Rent control policies are a hot topic in Colorado, as evidenced by the state legislature’s draft release of the first rent control bill before the 2026 legislative session even began. This and other recently passed rental housing bills restrict and control how landlords operate, a trend that will continue as the legislature adds more regulation…
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Report casts spotlight on Colorado Springs-area housing needs
The region’s long-awaited Housing Need Assessment was released in early December and local housing advocates, along with many of our citizens, are now poring through the 314-page report to better understand the diverse need for housing in Colorado Springs and El PasoCounty. As expected, this report is chock full of data that supports the need…
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We need more affordable housing in existing neighborhoods
By Jill Gaebler Special to the Gazette Colorado Springs is growing. That is not news and is not debatable. We live in a beautiful region, adjacent to the easternmost fourteener, our own Pikes Peak, which has drawn settlers here for over 150 years. And yes, people will continue to arrive, bringing their families, businesses, and…