Changemaker: Kimball Crangle
Kimball Crangle has played a pivotal role in the development of middle-income and affordable housing in Colorado in her career spanning more than two decades. After several years at Denver Housing Authority, she was hired in 2014 by Gorman and Company, an affordable housing development firm, and tasked with helping the firm expand into the Colorado market. Over the 10 years she’s spent in the role, Kimball’s leadership has led to the initiation of over 20 developments and more than 1,900 affordable housing units in communities throughout the state, with hundreds more units in the development pipeline.
Her first introduction to Colorado was in 1999 on assignment following the start of graduate school to work on a housing development in Estes Park.
“After that, I resumed my master’s in urban planning in Denver, and affordable housing wasn’t really even on my radar at the time,” recalled Kimball. “Actually, I ended up in affordable housing completely by accident.”
After completing her graduate degree, Kimball’s early career was focused on open space preservation. Her passion for preservation was rooted in her time growing up in rural Kansas, where she saw the correlation between a sense of place and access to the natural environment and observed its direct connection to wellbeing.
“Moving your body, having access to nature, and feeling at ease in your environment is really a springboard to opportunity and a healthier life,” she explained.
Her entry into the affordable housing industry came by way of accepting a job that involved performing housing market studies in the Denver area in 2003.
“I responded to an ad in the Denver Post to conduct market studies for Prior and Associates for something called ‘LIHTC,’ and I had no idea what it was,” she said. This position and others that followed involved working on housing supported by the federal Housing Tax Credit program. She quickly began to develop an expertise for developments financed by tax credits. “It really set off a fire in me about the importance of quality housing and the impact it can have on people, as well as the difference a good developer can make in the long-term success of a property,” she explained.
Kimball spent time working as a senior developer at Denver Housing Authority, where one of her major focus areas was the Mariposa South Lincoln Redevelopment Master Plan in Denver’s La Alma Lincoln Park neighborhood.
“It was really amazing to be able to work with the individuals and families that lived there, to dive deep into one place, and really understand their experiences,” explained Kimball. “Our goal was to redevelop the community in a way that allowed residents to still feel at home and grounded in their neighborhood after the redevelopment was completed.”
Following six years at Denver Housing Authority, she was hired by Gorman and Company. This role has involved partnering with communities of many shapes and sizes throughout Colorado to find housing solutions that serve a range of income levels. This includes deeply affordable units subsidized by state and federal Housing Tax Credits, as well as middle-income developments, which have been particularly impactful in Colorado’s mountain and rural resort communities. In many of these places, housing prices have become out of reach even for those with incomes that are too high to be eligible for traditional subsidies, such as housing supported by Housing Tax Credits.
“But for a deed-restricted opportunity that’s a little bit higher on the income spectrum, which often leverages innovative financing models, many Coloradans would be unable to live in the communities where the work,” she explained. “If people are unable to live in the communities where they work, many of the economic systems of these supply-constrained communities would falter. Housing is a foundational effort for economic development. We have been so honored to play a role in that solution.”
If people are unable to live in the communities where they work, many of the economic systems of these supply-constrained communities would falter. Housing is a foundational effort for economic development.
Gorman and Company’s approach to development is intentional about partnering with the communities where they develop housing, seeking first to understand the community’s needs and working with the private sector and local government to find viable housing solutions. Their experience creating complex financing stacks for developments supported by Housing Tax Credits has served them well as they’ve used creative financing strategies to build middle-income housing in Colorado communities.
“We come into the community to hear what the needs are, and we seek to be a conduit for the solution the community is seeking,” Kimball said. “We are looking for the nexus of political will and housing need, and then we’re able to bring our development expertise to the table.” When it comes to innovative housing models, including those that serve middle-income renters, political will and community support can be more challenging to obtain, Kimball said.
“Sometimes when you’re innovating and pioneering, it can be challenging to find the political will,” she explained. “But it’s so important to bring the community along with you in your vision, and to help communities really understand that vision.”
Even when the work of partnering with communities to find housing solutions is challenging and filled with setbacks, Kimball said that she remains inspired and motivated by the impact that affordable housing can have on someone’s life and on disrupting poverty.
“I am a firm believer in trying to help break cycles of poverty and to provide people the opportunity to experience something else,” Kimball said. “Without tools like affordable housing, that cycle would not be broken.”