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The Village People

Nearly a year after the Denver Housing Authority purchased East Village, the future of the project -- and its residents -- remains unsettled.

A A A Comments By T.R. Witcher Thursday, Aug 30 2001

The DHA will issue Requests for Proposals on the project in September; the RFPs are due back on October 18. Carpio expects negotiations with master-developer candidates to begin in December, with the winner of the contract determined by February 2002. The authority needs to stick to that timeline: If a construction schedule isn't finalized before next April, the DHA will have to enter into another one-year contract with HUD. And that "will expose the apartments to HUD inspections and require DHA to spend more money on units that DHA intends to demolish in the immediate future," according to notes from one DHA meeting.

Carpio insists the authority is on track. "We hope to do this without federal funds," he says. "With increasing density and getting private developers involved, the numbers will work out."

Anthony Camera

East Village resident Cynthia Padilla says many residents left when they should have stayed.

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Even though the project is full of vacant units, "If we did not buy East Village, those people who are there now would not be there now," Carpio adds. "It's not like we're bleeding over there. Right now we're losing money on East Village, but we knew that was going to happen. We have planned for that."

The DHA plans to continue renting units through October. Then construction will begin, and tenants will rotate in and out. Those who have stayed loyal to East Village will be given first pick in the new development.

Ruby and Marcos Sanchez plan to be there. The couple used to live in a shoddy unit north of Park Avenue West; after the DHA purchased the property, it moved them to a nicer apartment on the south side of the street. The Sanchezes like their new place, and they've eased off from their activist role of last summer.

Now there is more time for family picnics, trips to the pool, fishing and movies. "We felt we had done our job," says Marcos. "What we fought for, we actually got."