The Impact of High Housing Costs on Current Homeowners

By Marshall Moore

Something most homeowners don’t often consider: the high cost of housing impacts those who already own their homes.

I met a young woman last year whose story I can't stop thinking about.  She grew up without much support.  Often lived in her car with her mom, went out on her own at 16.  She almost dropped out of high school.

But one teacher saw her.  Wouldn't let her quit.

She graduated.  Then, she enrolled at Red Rocks Community College on donor scholarships from people who believed in the system’s power to change people without ever knowing her beforehand.  Two years later, I met her at the Red Rocks Foundation luncheon, where she was finishing up and announcing she'd enrolled at the Colorado School of Mines.

Here's the part I want homeowners to sit with:

She was one of the few who made it that far.  Most kids in her situation don't.  When half your paycheck goes to rent, the rest is in survival mode.  Savings, skill-building, even the energy to plan a different future all get squeezed.  I see this dynamic every day in my financial wellness work.  Housing isn't a budget line.  It's the ceiling on everything else someone can become.

And that teacher who changed her life?  She's in the same system.  Jeffco teacher salaries don't stretch the way they used to when housing costs keep climbing.  The people who notice kids... teachers, coaches, social workers, early-career nonprofit staff... are being priced out alongside the families they're trying to help.

So when we organize to stop a new development down the street for "neighborhood character," it's worth being honest about what we might be stifling:

The next young woman with that potential.

The teacher who would have noticed her.

The community we'd actually be proud to call home.

This young woman is going to be in our workforce, assuming she can afford to live here.  She'll contribute to our economy, our tax base, and our communities for decades.  The version of her who didn't get encouraged, didn't have a teacher who stayed in the district long enough to see her... that version stays stuck.  And we never know what we lost.

It’s a question worth considering: what potential are we leaving on the table because someone couldn't afford a place to live?